Index theory for non-compact quantum graphs

We develop an index theory for variational problems on noncompact quantum graphs. The main results are a spectral flow formula, relating the net change of eigenvalues to the Maslov index of boundary data, and a Morse index theorem, equating the negative directions of the Lagrangian action with the total multiplicity of conjugate instants along the edges. These results extend classical tools in global analysis and symplectic geometry to graph based models, with applications to nonlinear wave equations such as the nonlinear Schroedinger equation. The spectral flow formula is proved by constructing a Lagrangian intersection theory in the Gelfand-Robbin quotients of the second variation of the action. This approach also recovers, in a unified way, the known formulas for heteroclinic, halfclinic, homoclinic, and bounded orbits of (non)autonomous Lagrangian systems.