Bouquet decomposition of the Milnor fibre (Q1910449)

This paper proves the most general bouquet decomposition for the Milnor fibre of a function with isolated singularities. Let \((X,x)\) be a reduced analytic germ and \(f : (X,x) \to (\mathbb{C}, 0)\) the germ of a function which has an isolated singularity relative to a given Whitney stratification of \((X,x)\), meaning that the only possible singular point of the restriction of \(f\) to any stratum is just \(x\). The theorem of the paper is that the Milnor fibre of \(f\) is homotopy equivalent to a bouquet \(\vee_{i \in R} \vee_{j \in M_i} S^{k_i} (F_i)\) where for each stratum \(S_i\) of dimension \(k_i\) the factor \(S^{k_i} (F_i)\) is the \(k_i\)-fold suspension of the complex link of \(S_i\). For the stratum \(S_0 = \{x\}\) the multiplicity \(M_0\) equals 1, while the other multiplicities \(M_i\) depend only on the function \(f\) and the stratum \(f\). In case \(X\) is smooth there are only two strata, \(S_0 = \{x\}\) and \(S_1 = X \backslash \{x\}\), and \(M_1\) equals the ordinary Milnor number, so the theorem implies Milnor's result, as well as the known generalisations. The proof is based on Lê's carroussel method and shows how the Milnor fibre is built up from the complex link of \(X\) by attaching thimbles over local Milnor fibres of stratified Morse singularities.