Normal surface singularities with an integral homology sphere link related to space monomial curves with a plane semigroup (Q6155550)

Let \((S,0)\) be a germ of normal surface singularity in \((\mathbb{C}^g,0)\), and denote with \(L(S)\) the intersection of \((S,0)\) with a small ball centered at the origin. The topology of \(L(S)\) provides basic information on the geometry of the germ. In particular, \(L(S)\) is said to be \(\mathbb{Z} HS\) (resp. \(\mathbb{Q} HS\)) if it has the same integral (resp. rational) homology of a 3-dimensional sphere. The authors are mainly interested in germs of surfaces defined by a system of equations \(f_i+\lambda_{i+1}f_{i+1}=0\), \(i=1,\dots,g-1\), where the polynomials \(f_i\)'s are: \[f_1=x_1^{n_1}-x_0^{n_0}, \quad f_2=x_2^{n_2}-x_0^{b_{20}}x_1^{b_{21}},\quad\dots,\quad f_g=x_g^{n_g}-x_0^{b_{g0}}\cdots x_{g-1}^{b_{g\, g-1}}.\] These surfaces \(S\) arise naturally in the study of families of space monomial curves \(Y\) with planar semigroup. Indeed the curves \(Y\) are divisors in \(S\), defined by the equation \(f_1=0\). The authors determine numerical conditions on the exponents \(n_i\)'s, \(b_{jk}\)'s which force \(L(S)\) to be \(\mathbb{Q} HS\) or \(\mathbb{Z} HS\). With this characterization, the authors compute the slice diagram \(\Delta\) of \(S\), related with a resolution of the singularity. Then, the authors show that the singularity \((S,0)\) is always of splice type, i.e. the diagram \(\Delta\) always satisfies the semigroup condition introduced by \textit{W. D. Neumann} and \textit{J. Wahl} [Geom. Topol. 9, 699--755 (2005; Zbl 1087.32017)].