A remark on vanishing cycles with two strata (Q765762)

The authors study the Milnor fiber of a complex singularity \(f:(\mathbb{C} ^{n+1},0)\rightarrow (\mathbb{C},0).\) If \(f\) has an isolated critical point at \(0\), then Milnor proved that the Milnor fiber of \(f\) has the homotopy type of a bouquet of \(\mu _{0}(f)\) \(n\)-spheres, where \(\mu _{0}(f)\) is the Milnor number of \(f\). The authors consider the following more general case: 1. the critical locus \(\Sigma f\) of \(f\) is of dimension \(s\geq 3,\) 2. \(\Sigma f\) is smooth outside \(0,\) 3. the Milnor number of \(f\) of a generic transverse slice of codimension \(s\) of \(f^{-1}(0)\) is constant along \(\Sigma f\setminus \{0\}\) near \(0,\) 4. the intersection of \(\Sigma f\) with a sufficiently small sphere \( S_{\varepsilon }\) centered at \(0\) is \((s-2)\)-connected. Then the Milnor fiber of \(f\) at \(0\) can have non-zero cohomology only in degrees \(0\), \(n-s\), \(n-1\), and \(n\).