On deformations of maps and curve singularities (Q2518880)

The article aims to study several deformation functors associated with the normalization of a reduced curve singularity \((X,0)\subset ({\mathbb C}^n,0)\). The main new results are explicit formulas, in terms of classical invariants of \((X,0)\), for the cotangent cohomology groups \(T^i\) (\(i=1,2\)) of these functors. In particular, the authors obtain precise statements about the smoothness and dimension of the corresponding local moduli spaces. They apply the results to obtain explicit formulas, respectively, estimates for the \({\mathcal A}_e\)-codimension of a parametrized curve singularity, where \({\mathcal A}_e\) denotes the Mather-Wall group of left-right equivalence.