No label defined (Q4358732)

This is an expository article where the author discusses some important invariants of singularities of complex algebraic varieties and explains effective methods to compute them. Specifically, the invariants under consideration are (given an algebraic variety \(V\subset \mathbb{C}^n\) and a singular point \(p\in V)\): (1) the tangent cone \(C(V,p)\) of \(V\) at \(p\), (2) the space \(K (V,p)\) of limiting tangent spaces at \(p\), and (3) the Milnor number \(\mu (V,p)\), as well as the ``higher ones'' obtained by considering the intersection of \(V\) with generic linear spaces of various dimensions. In (2) and (3) only the case where \(V\) is a hypersurface is considered. The space \(K(V,p)\) of the hypersurface \(V:f=0\) at its singular point \(p\), with \(f \in\mathbb{C} [x_1, \dots, x_n]\), can be defined as follows. Letting \(f_i\) denote the partial derivative of \(f\) with respect to \(x_i\), consider sequences \(\{p_m\}\) of non-singular points of \(V\) converging to \(p\) and such that the sequence \(\{q_m\}\) of points in \(\mathbb{P}^{n-1}\), where \(q_m: =[f_1(p_m): \cdots: f_n(p_m)]\), is convergent. Let \(\lim_{m\to \infty} q_m= q\in\mathbb{P}^{n-1}\). The collection of all points \(q\) obtained in this way is an algebraic set in \(\mathbb{P}^{n-1}\), denoted \([K(V,p)]\). Then, \(K(V,P)\) is defined as the affine cone in \(\mathbb{C}^n\), with vertex at \(p\), corresponding to \([K(V,p)]\) via the canonical projection morphism \(\mathbb{C}^n-\{p\}\to \mathbb{P}^{n-1}\). Since the hyperplane \(\sum^n_{i=1} f_i(p_m) x_i=0\) is parallel to the tangent space to \(V\) at \(p_m\), the terminology above is justified. To find equations for \(K(V,p)\) one uses techniques from the theory of Gröbner bases in polynomial rings. To compute the Milnor number, defined as the dimension of the complex vector space \(\mathbb{C} [[x_1, \dots, x_n]]/ \langle f_1, \dots, f_n\rangle\) (with notation as above, where we assume \(p\) to be the origin to simplify), one uses the theory of standard bases in local rings. Both are conveniently reviewed. This article is a very good informal introduction to these topics. Unfortunately, there are many misprints, essentially obvious, but that might be confusing to the beginner who reads this paper. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0871.00035].