Determination of the poles of the topological zeta function for curves

Tof ∈ℂ[x ₁…,x _n ] one associates thetopological zeta function which is an invariant of (the germ of)f at 0, defined in terms of an embedded resolution of (the germ of)f ⁻¹{0} inf ⁻¹{0}. By definition the topological zeta function is a rational function in one variable, and it is related to Igusa’s local zeta function. A major problem is the study of its poles. In this paper we exactly determine all poles of the topological zeta function forn=2 and anyf ∈ℂ[x ₁,x ₂]. In particular there exists at most one pole of order two, and in this case it is the pole closest to the origin. Our proofs rely on a new geometrical result which makes the embedded resolution graph of the germ off into an ‘ordered tree’ with respect to the so-callednumerical data of the resolution. The author is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research N.F.W.O.     

Jacobian quotients, an algebraic proof

We give an algebraic proof of a theorem of H. Maugendre showing how the jacobian quotients of a pair of germs of plane curve may be computed from their simultaneous immerged resolution, thus proving in particular their topological invariance.     

On the string-theoretic Euler number of a class of absolutely isolated singularities

An explicit computation of the so-called string-theoretic E-function of a normal complex variety X with at most log-terminal singularities can be achieved by constructing one snc-desingularization of X, accompanied with the intersection graph of the exceptional prime divisors, and with the precise knowledge of their structure. In the present paper, it is shown that this is feasible for the case in which X is the underlying space of a class of absolutely isolated singularities (including both usual ? _n -singularities and Fermat singularities of arbitrary dimension). As byproduct of the exact evaluation of lim, for this class of singularities, one gets counterexamples to a conjecture of Batyrev concerning the boundedness of the string-theoretic index. Finally, the string-theoretic Euler number is also computed for global complete intersections in ℙ_ℂ ^N with prescribed singularities of the above type. Received: 2 January 2001 / Revised version: 22 May 2001     

Universal abelian covers of certain surface singularities

Every normal complex surface singularity with -homology sphere link has a universal abelian cover. It has been conjectured by Neumann and Wahl that the universal abelian cover of a rational or minimally elliptic singularity is a complete intersection singularity defined by a system of ``splice diagram equations'. In this paper we introduce a Neumann-Wahl system, which is an analogue of the system of splice diagram equations, and prove the following. If (X, o) is a rational or minimally elliptic singularity, then its universal abelian cover (Y, o) is an equisingular deformation of an isolated complete intersection singularity (Y₀, o) defined by a Neumann-Wahl system. Furthermore, if G denotes the Galois group of the covering Y → X, then G also acts on Y₀ and X is an equisingular deformation of the quotient Y₀/G. Dedicated to Professor Jonathan Wahl on his sixtieth birthday. This research was partially supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.     

Multi-index Filtrations and Generalized Poincaré Series

A multi-index filtration on the ring of germs of functions can be described by its Poincaré series. We consider a finer invariant (or rather two invariants) of a multi-index filtration than the Poincaré series generalizing the last one. The construction is based on the fact that the Poincaré series can be written as a certain integral with respect to the Euler characteristic over the projectivization of the ring of functions. The generalization of the Poincaré series is defined as a similar integral with respect to the generalized Euler characteristic with values in the Grothendieck ring of varieties. For the filtration defined by orders of functions on the components of a plane curve singularity C and for the so called divisorial filtration for a modification of by a sequence of blowing-ups there are given formulae for this generalized Poincaré series in terms of an embedded resolution of the germ C or in terms of the modification respectively. The generalized Euler characteristic of the extended semigroup corresponding to the divisorial filtration is computed giving a curious “motivic version” of an A’Campo type formula. First two authors were partially supported by the grant MEC, PN I + D + i MTM2004-00958. Partially supported by the grants RFBR-04-01-00762, NSh-4719.2006.1 The author is thankful to the University of Valladolid for hospitality.     

On (-<Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis> ⋅ <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis>)-constant deformations of Gorenstein surface singularities

Let : X T be a small deformation of a normal Gorenstein surface singularity X ₀ = ^-1(0) over the complex number field . Suppose that T is a neighborhood of the origin of and that X ₀ is not log-canonical. We show that if a topological invariant -P _t P _t of X _t = ^-1(t) is constant, then, after a suitable finite base change, admits a simultaneous resolution f : M X which induces a locally trivial deformation of each maximal string of rational curves at an end of the exceptional set of M ₀ X ₀; in particular, if X ₀ has a star-shaped resolution graph, then admits a weak simultaneous resolution (in other words, is an equisingular deformation).     

Characteristic classes of complex hypersurfaces

The Milnor-Hirzebruch class of a locally complete intersection X in an algebraic manifold M measures the difference between the (Poincaré dual of the) Hirzebruch class of the virtual tangent bundle of X and, respectively, the Brasselet-Schürmann-Yokura (homology) Hirzebruch class of X. In this note, we calculate the Milnor-Hirzebruch class of a globally defined algebraic hypersurface X in terms of the corresponding Hirzebruch invariants of vanishing cycles and singular strata in a Whitney stratification of X. Our approach is based on Schürmann's specialization property for the motivic Hirzebruch class transformation of Brasselet-Schürmann-Yokura. The present results also yield calculations of Todd, Chern and L-type characteristic classes of hypersurfaces.     

On splice quotients of the form {zn = f(x,y)}

The splice quotients, defined by W. D. Neumann and J. Wahl, are an interesting class of normal surface singularities with rational homology sphere links. In general, it is difficult to determine whether or not a singularity is analytically isomorphic to a splice quotient, although there are certain necessary topological conditions. Let {zⁿ = f(x, y)} define a surface X_{f, n} with an isolated singularity at the origin in $\mathbb {C}^3$. We show that for irreducible f, if (X_{f, n}, 0) satisfies the necessary topological conditions, then there exists a splice quotient of the form (X_{g, n}, 0), where the plane curve singularity defined by g = 0 has the same topological type as the one defined by f = 0. We also present an example of an (X_{f, n}, 0) that is not a splice quotient, but for which the universal abelian cover is a complete intersection of splice type together with a non‐diagonal action of the discriminant group. © 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim     

Reflexive modules on normal surface singularities and representations of the local fundamental group

We consider the Riemann-Hilbert correspondence on the complement of a normal surface singularity (X,x). Through a closure operation we obtain a correspondence between the category of finite dimensional representations of the local fundamental group and the category of left D_X,x-modules that are reflexive as O_X,x-modules. We show that under this correspondence profinite representations correspond to invariant modules and that these admit a canonical structure as left D_X,x-modules. We prove that the fundamental module is an invariant module if and only if (X,x) is a quotient singularity. Finally we investigate some algebraisation aspects.     

Milnor number at infinity, topology and Newton boundary of a polynomial function

Abstract. In this paper we show that the Euler characteristic of the generic fibre of a complex polynomial function can be easily computed using the Newton number of f. We apply this result to study polynomials with a finite number of critical points. Received May 25, 1998; in final form January 28, 1999     

Vanishing cycles of pencils of hypersurfaces

We prove an extended Lefschetz principle for a large class of pencils of hypersurfaces having isolated singularities, possibly in the axis, and show that the module of vanishing cycles is generated by the images of certain variation maps.     

Invariant of the hypergeometric group associated to the quantum cohomology of the projective space

We present a simple method to calculate the Stokes matrix for the quantum cohomology of the projective spaces CP^k−1 in terms of certain hypergeometric group. We present also an algebraic variety whose fibre integrals are solutions to the given hypergeometric equation.     

Differential operators on toric varieties and Fourier transform

We show that Fourier transforms on the Weyl algebras have a geometric counterpart in the framework of toric varieties, namely they induce isomorphisms between twisted rings of differential operators on regular toric varieties, whose fans are related to each other by reflections of one-dimensional cones. The simplest class of examples is provided by the toric varieties related by such reflections to projective spaces. It includes the blow-up at a point of the affine space and resolution of singularities of varieties appearing in the study of the minimal orbit of .     

Hirzebruch–Milnor classes of complete intersections

We prove a new formula for the Hirzebruch–Milnor classes of global complete intersections with arbitrary singularities describing the difference between the Hirzebruch classes and the virtual ones. This generalizes a formula for the Chern–Milnor classes in the hypersurface case that was conjectured by S. Yokura and was proved by A. Parusiński and P. Pragacz. It also generalizes a formula of J. Seade and T. Suwa for the Chern–Milnor classes of complete intersections with isolated singularities.     

Multiplier ideals, V-filtrations and transversal sections

We show that the restriction to a smooth transversal section commutes to the computation of multiplier ideals and V-filtrations. As an application we prove the constancy of the jumping numbers and the spectrum along any stratum of a Whitney regular stratification.     

A note on separation of algebraic sets and the ?ojasiewicz exponent for polynomial mappings

In the paper a global separation problem for affine algebraic sets is considered. As application an upper bound for the distance of the graph of polynomial mapping to its zero set in the form of a ?ojasiewicz inequality is given.     

Topological equisingularity of hypersurfaces with 1-dimensional critical set

We focus on topological equisingularity of families of holomorphic function germs with 1-dimensional critical set. We introduce the notion of equisingularity at the critical set and prove that any family which is equisingular at the critical set is topologically equisingular. We show that if a family of germs with 1-dimensional critical set has constant generic Lê numbers then it is equisingular at the critical set, and hence topologically equisingular (answering a question of D. Massey [13]). It is worth to remark that this does not happen for higher dimensional critical set [5]. We use these topological triviality results to modify the definition of singularity stem present in the literature, introducing and characterising topological stems (being this concept closely related with Arnold?s series of singularities). We provide another sufficient condition for topological equisingularity for families whose reduced critical set is deformed flatly. Finally we study how the critical set can be deformed in a topologically equisingular family and provide examples of topologically equisingular families whose critical set is a non-flat deformation with singular special fibre and smooth generic fibre.     

Limits of tangents and minimality of complex links

We show that the complex link of a large class of space germs (X,x₀) is characterized by its “simplicity”, among the Milnor fibres of functions with isolated singularity on X. This amounts to the minimality of the Milnor number, whenever this number is defined. Such a phenomenon has been first pointed out in case (X,x₀) is an isolated hypersurface singularity, by Teissier (Cycles évanescents, sections planes et conditions de Whitney, in: Singularités à Cargèse 1972, Asterisque, Nos. 7 et 8, Soc. Math. France, Paris, 1973, pp. 285-362).     

Non-Archimedean integrals and stringy Euler numbers of log-terminal pairs

Using non-Archimedian integration over spaces of arcs of algebraic varieties, we define stringy Euler numbers associated with arbitrary Kawamata log-terminal pairs. There is a natural Kawamata log-terminal pair corresponding to an algebraic variety V having a regular action of a finite group G. In this situation we show that the stringy Euler number of this pair coincides with the physicists’ orbifold Euler number defined by the Dixon-Harvey-Vafa-Witten formula. As an application, we prove a conjecture of Miles Reid on the Euler numbers of crepant desingularizations of Gorenstein quotient singularities. Received March 19, 1998