Microdifferential systems and the codimension-three conjecture (Q742908)

This paper presents the proof of a fundamental conjecture of Kashiwara for holonomic microdifferential systems with regular singularities that has been believed among experts since the end of 1970's but was never formally stated. More precisely, it is proved that ``any regular holonomic module extends uniquely beyond an analytic subset that is at least of codimension three in its support''. Despite of the result being presented entirely in the context of microdifferential holonomic systems, it can also be formulated as a statement about microlocal perverse sheaves. Recall that the category of microlocal perverse sheaves is a refinement of the category of perverse sheaves having in mind a simpler conceptual description of these objects. Moreover, as the category of regular holonomic modules over the sheaf \(\mathcal{D}_X\) of linear differential operators on a complex manifold \(X\) with holomorphic coefficients is identified with the category of perverse sheaves on \(X\), by the Riemann-Hilbert correspondence, the category on \(T^*X\) (the cotangent bundle to \(X\)) of holonomic modules over \(\mathcal{E}_X\) (the sheaf of microdifferential operators on \(T^*X\)) is equivalent to the category of microlocal perverse sheaves. The proof passes by a formal version and requires, as expected, a lot of technique and intermediate results, all presented with the rigor that these authors have accustomed us to. This collaboration of M. Kashiwara and K. Vilonen then results in a reference work for the microlocal analysis in general and, in particular, it is one more key step towards a simpler conceptual description of the category of perverse sheaves.