An Index of an Equivariant Vector Field and Addition Theorems for Pontrjagin Characteristic Classes

Abstract

The theory of indices of Morse--Bott vector fields on a manifold is constructed and the famous localization problem for the transfer map is solved on its base in the present paper. As a consequence, we obtained addition theorems for the universal Pontrjagin characteristic classes in cobordisms. These results gave us a possibility to complete the construction, which was begun more than twenty years ago, of the universal characteristic classes' theory.