Lusternik--Schnirelmann theory on general spaces

Abstract

We extend Lusternik-Schnirelmann theory to pairs $(f, \phi)$, where $\phi$ is a homotopy equivalence of a space $X$, $f$ is a function on $X$ which decreases along $\phi$ and $(f, \phi)$ satisfies a discrete analog of the Palais-Smale condition. The theory is carried out in an equivariant setting.