Flags in zero dimensional complete intersection algebras and indices of real vector fields (Q938263)

The authors introduce bilinear forms in a flag in a complete intersection local \(\mathbb{R}\)-algebra of dimension 0 related to the Eisenbud-Levine, Khimshiashvili bilinear form. The paper is divided into five sections. The first section introduces some basic notions and states the main results of the paper. In Section 1, higher order signatures in an algebra \textbf{A} defined by (1) are studied and Theorem 0.1 is proved. In Section 2 the authors investigate the family of bilinear forms in the module \textit{B} and prove Theorem 0.2. Section 3 is devoted to the problem of transporting the signatures to the algebra \textbf{A} and to the proof of Theorem 0.3. The index of contact vector fields and the proof to Theorem 0.4 are presented in Section 4. These results are connected to other authors' papers [the authors, Contemp. Math. 240, 175--182 (1999; Zbl 1113.32305); the first and third author, Ann. Inst. Fourier 47, No.~5, 1523--1539 (1997; Zbl 0891.32013); Funct. Anal. Appl. 33, No.~1, 1--10 (1999); translation from Funkts. Anal. Prilozh. 33, No.~1, 1--13 (1999; Zbl 0946.32016); \textit{X. Gómez-Mont, J. Seade} and \textit{A. Verjovsky}, Math. Ann. 291, No.~4, 737--752 (1991; Zbl 0725.32012)].