An abstract version of the Morse index theorem and its application to hypersurfaces of constant mean curvature

Abstract

In [5] Smale generalized the Morse index theorem (originally proved by Morse in [3]) to elliptic partial differential systems in several independent variables. Smale's result was used by Simons in [4] to obtain the index theorem for minimal submanifolds. The purpose of this paper is to give an abstract version of the Morse index theorem and use it to prove an index theorem for hypersurfaces of constant mean curvature. This was sugested by Barbosa and do Carmo in [1].