Lines on non-degenerate surfaces (Q5929538)

Let \((X,0)\) be a germ of analytic varieties embedded in \((\mathbb{C}^n)\) with a singularity at \(0\). One says that \(L\) is a line in \((X,0)\) if \((L,0)\) is a smooth curve germ in \((X,0)\) and \(L\setminus \{0\}\) is contained in the regular part of \(X\). Let \(\pi:\widetilde X\to (X,0)\) be a resolution of a surface \((X,0)\) with an isolated singularity at the origin 0 and let \(\{E_1, \dots, E_r\}\) be the exceptional divisors of \(\pi\). For an exceptional divisor \(E_i\) let \({\mathcal L}_{E_i}\) denote the set of lines on \((X,0)\) whose strict transform intersect \(E_i\) transversally. For a given resolution \(\pi:\widetilde X\to X\), one considers the integer \(\rho(\pi):= \#\{E_i\mid{\mathcal L}_{E_i} \neq \emptyset\}\). This number depends on the resolution. Put \(\rho(X,0)\) to be the minimal value of \(\rho(\pi)\); obviously \(\rho(\pi)= \rho(X,0)\) if \(\pi: \widetilde X\to X\) is a minimal resolution. One calls \(\rho(\pi)\) the line index of the resolution \(\pi:\widetilde X\to X\) and one calls \(\rho(X,0)\) the line index of \((X,o)\). In this paper, the authors study \(\rho(\pi)\) where \(\pi\) is a toric resolution of a non-degenerate surface singularity and give a method to determine the existence and the ``number'' of such lines on non-degenerate surface singularities.