Vanishing cycles, plane curve singularities and framed mapping class groups (Q2058834)

Let \(f:\mathbb{C}^2\rightarrow \mathbb{C}\) be an isolated plane curve singularity. In the study of the versal unfolding space, i.e. the parameter space of all deformations of \(f\) up to topological equivalence, the most basic invariants are the set of vanishing cycles and the geometric monodromy group. A'Campo has given an algorithm which builds an explicit model for the Milnor fiber of \(f\) equipped with a ``distinguished basis'' of finitely many vanishing cycles. For Milnor fibers of genus at least \(5\), when A'Campo's algorithm grows impractical, the authors give an intrinsic description of the geometric monodromy group that does not invoke the notion of the versal unfolding space, and an easy criterion to decide if a given simple closed curve in the Milnor fiber is a vanishing cycle or not. With the exception of singularities of type \(A_n\) and \(D_n\), they find that both are completely determined by a canonical framing of the Milnor fiber induced by the Hamiltonian vector field associated to \(f\). As a corollary they answer a question of Sullivan concerning the injectivity of monodromy groups for all singularities having Milnor fiber of genus at least \(7\).