In this paper we study topological properties of stable Hamiltonian structures. In particular, we prove the following results in dimension three: The space of stable Hamiltonian structures modulo homotopy is discrete; stable Hamiltonian structures are generically Morse-Bott (i.e. all closed orbits are Bott nondegenerate) but not Morse; the standard contact structure on $S^3$ is homotopic to a stable Hamiltonian structure which cannot be embedded in ${ℝ}^4$. Moreover, we derive a structure theorem for stable...

We study the parametrized Hamiltonian action functional for finite-dimensional families of Hamiltonians. We show that the linearized operator for the $L^2$-gradient lines is Fredholm and surjective, for a generic choice of Hamiltonian and almost complex structure. We also establish the Fredholm property and transversality for generic $S^1$-invariant families of Hamiltonians and almost complex structures, parametrized by odd-dimensional spheres. This is a foundational result used to define $S^1$-equivariant...