A vanishing theorem concerning the Artin component of a rational surface singularity (Q1823280)

Let \(\tilde X\to X\) be the minimal resolution of a rational surface singularity. According to M. Artin, there is a corresponding blowing down map on base spaces of versal deformations \(\tilde S\to S\), whose image is an irreducible component \(S_{art}\) of the moduli space of X. Via theorems of J. Lipman and the third author, \(S_{art}\) is smooth and is the quotient of \(\tilde S\) by a product of Weyl groups. We prove here that this last result is equivalent to a cohomological vanishing theorem on \(\hat X,\) the rational double point resolution. Our method is to study the dual \((T^ 1_ X)^*\) of the tangent space to the deformations, and to prove the surjectivity of the map \((T^ 1_ X)^*\to (T^ 1_{\hat X})^*\). The kernel of this last map is computed explicitly in the case of a cyclic quotient singularity.