To make progress towards better computability of Morse-Floer homology, and
thus enhance the applicability of Floer theory, it is essential to have tools
to determine the relative index of equilibria. Since even the existence of
nontrivial stationary points is often difficult to accomplish, extracting their
index information is usually out of reach. In this paper we establish a
computer-assisted proof approach to determining relative indices of stationary
states. We introduce the general framework and then focus on three example
problems described by partial differential equations to show how these ideas
work in practice. Based on a rigorous implementation, with accompanying code
made available, we determine the relative indices of many stationary points.
Moreover, we show how forcing results can be then used to prove theorems about
connecting orbits and traveling waves in partial differential equations.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures. Revised accepted versio