Contact singularities (Q1849391)

In analogy with the notion of symplectic singularities, which were studied by \textit{A. Beauville} [Invent. Math. 139, 541-549 (2000; Zbl 0958.14001)], the authors introduce the notion of contact singularity. Let \((V, 0)\) be a normal complex singularity of dimension \(n=2r+1\); it is called a contact singularity if there is a holomorphic 1-form \(\eta\) on \(V\setminus \text{Sing} V\) in a neighbourhood of 0 such that \(\eta\wedge (d\eta)^r\) has no zero on \(V\setminus\text{Sing} V\). Examples of contact singularities can be obtained in the following way: Let \((V,0)\) be an isolated symplectic singularity of dimension \(2r\geq 2\). Then \((V\times \mathbb{C},0)\) is a contact singularity. The main result of this paper is that there are no isolated contact singularities. The key tool in proving this result is a Hodge theoretic result about the extendability of differential forms on rational singularities. The paper ends with the computation of the number of moduli of an isolated symplectic singularity that is resolved after one blowing up; in this case, the number of moduli is given by the topological invariant \(\beta_2-1\), where \(\beta_2\) is the second Betti number of the exceptional set of the blowing up.