Morse-Novikov cohomology on foliated manifolds

Abstract

The idea of Lichnerowicz or Morse-Novikov cohomology groups of a manifold has been utilized by many researchers to study important properties and invariants of a manifold. Morse-Novikov cohomology is defined using the differential d ω = d + ω∧, where ω is a closed 1-form. We study Morse-Novikov cohomology relative to a foliation on a manifold and its homotopy invariance and then extend it to more general type of forms on a Riemannian foliation. We study the Laplacian and Hodge decompositions for the corresponding differential operators on reduced leafwise Morse-Novikov complexes. In the case of Riemannian foliations, we prove that the reduced leafwise Morse-Novikov cohomology groups satisfy the Hodge theorem and Poincaré duality. The resulting isomorphisms yield a Hodge diamond structure for leafwise Morse-Novikov cohomology.