No label defined (Q4945324)

The authors study a local version of the Harnack inequality. The principal local Harnack bound reads as follows: If the germ of a real analytic curve \(C\) has at least one real branch, the number of ovals of the smooothing of \(C\) is bounded from above by \(g=1/2(\mu-r+1)\), where \(\mu\) is the Milnor number and \(r\) the number of all complex branches of \(C\). One of the open questions posed by \textit{V. I. Arnol'd} [in: Singularities, Summer Inst., Arcata 1981, Proc. Symp. Pure Math. 40, Part 1, 57-69 (1983; Zbl 0519.58019)] asks whether this local Harnack bound is sharp. The authors show a counterexample using so-called Sirler cusp singularities. They improve and correct an earlier result of \textit{J.-J. Risler} [Invent. Math. 89, 119-137 (1987; Zbl 0672.14020)] suggesting a refinement of the local Harnack inequality for singularities with several real branches. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0929.00102].