The Arf invariants of Brieskorn-Pham singularities (Q579299)

The Brieskorn-Pham singularity defined by the function \(\sum z_ k^{a_ k}\) has Milnor fibre whose middle homology group is the tensor product of the augmentation ideals of the group rings \({\mathbb{Z}}[t_ k|\) \(t_ k^{a_ k}=1]:\) on it there exist a natural intersection pairing and an associated quadratic map Q to the field F with two elements. This paper contains the calculation of the Arf invariant of Q; the result is complicated to state. The proof proceeds by decomposing the group ring over F into direct summands; elaborate combinatorics are necessary to control the decomposition. The argument also depends on the abelian case of a formula for the number mod 2 of equivalence classes, under the relation g conjugate to \(h^ n\) for n a power of 2, of a group of odd order d: the answer is determined by d modulo 8.