Singularities of Lagrangian varieties and related topics (Q1182601)

This is a survey of some representative directions in the theory of singularities of Lagrangian varieties, important from the point of view of applications to mathematical physics. The author begins by an interesting introduction on the history of this subject and then proceeds to give the classical classification results for stable Lagrange projections and their connection to elementary concepts in optics and mechanics. Next, he introduces the notion of caustics, bicaustics, and quasicaustics, and shows how they appear in symplectic bifurcation theory. Invoking symplectic canonical varieties, he reformulates the results of \textit{O. P. Shcherbak} [Russ. Math. Surv. 43, No. 3, 149-194 (1988); translation from Usp. Mat. Nauk 43, No. 3(261), 125-160 (1988; Zbl 0675.58007)] concerning the classification of wave fronts on smooth obstacles. He also reports on new ideas and classification results in the theory of generic invariant Lagrangian submanifolds. As a new result, there is a complete list of generic \(\mathbb{Z}_ 2\)-invariant bicaustics in \(\mathbb{R}^ 2\) and \(\mathbb{R}^ 3\). In the sequel, he lists the most elementary properties of the symplectic geometry of binary forms and constructs the canonical generalization of open swallowtails. In conclusion, he presents the most straightforward desingularization procedure for singular Lagrangian varieties, i.e. the local ``inverse reduction'' procedure.