Minimal Morse flows on compact manifolds

In this paper we prove, using the Poincare-Hopf inequalities, that a minimal number of non-degenerate singularities can be computed in terms only of abstract homological boundary information. Furthermore, this minimal number can be realized on some manifold with non-empty boundary satisfying the abstract homological boundary information. In fact, we present all possible indices and types (connecting or disconnecting) of singularities realizing this minimal number. The Euler characteristics of all manifolds realizing this minimal number are obtained and the associated Lyapunov graphs of Morse type are described and shown to have the lowest topological complexity. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.153183450346