Fundamental group of plane curves and related invariants (Q2702159)

In this survey the authors discuss some questions related to the topology of the complement of a (possibly singular) algebraic curve \(C\) in the complex projective plane \(\mathbb P^2\). For instance the first homology group \(H_1(\mathbb P^2\setminus C)\) depends on the number of irreducible components of \(C\) and on their degrees, while the second homology group \(H_2(\mathbb P^2\setminus C)\) depends on the local topological invariants of the singularities of \(C\). The authors discuss (among other things) questions of the following type: the relationship between the study of the topology of \(\mathbb P^2\setminus C\) and the study of surface singularities, or the classical tool to compute the fundamental group of \(\mathbb P^2\setminus C\) (namely the braid monodromy). NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEIn the final section some finer invariants, such as the characteristic varieties of \(C\) and the associated Alexander polynomial, are introduced and studied. The paper is well written and a number of examples and an extensive bibliography are also included.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 0952.00066].