Topological complexity of the relative closure of a semi-Pfaffian couple (Q958241)

Before trying to explain the content of the article under review let us recall some of the most important involved notions. A tuple \((f_1,\ldots,f_{\ell})\) of analytic functions \(f_i:U\to\mathbb R\), where \(U\subset\mathbb R^n\) is an open domain, is called a Pfaffian chain of length \(\ell\) if the functions \(f_i\) are solution on \(U\) of a triangular differential system of the form \[ df_i(\mathbf x)=\sum_{j=1}^nP_{ij}\big(\mathbf x,f_1(\mathbf x),\ldots,f_i(\mathbf x)\big)d\mathbf x_j,\;(\ast) \] where \(\mathbf x=(\mathbf x_1, \ldots,\mathbf x_n)\) and each \(P_{ij}\) is a polynomial with real coefficients in \(n+i\) variables. It is said that a function \(q:U\to\mathbb R\) is a Pfaffian function expressible in the chain \((f_1,\ldots,f_{\ell})\) if there exists a polynomial \(Q\) with real coefficients in \(n+\ell\) variables such that for every \(\mathbf x\in U\), \[ q(\mathbf x)=Q\big(\mathbf x,f_1(\mathbf x),\ldots,f_{\ell}(\mathbf x)\big).\;(\ast\ast) \] A function \(q:U\to\mathbb R\) is called Pfaffian if it is a Pfaffian function expressible in some Pfaffian chain \((f_1,\ldots,f_{\ell})\) defined on \(U\). The degree \(\alpha\) of the Pfaffian chain \((f_1,\ldots,f_{\ell})\) is the maximum of the degrees of the polynomials \(P_{ij}\) occuring in \((\ast)\), while the degree \(\beta\) of \(q\) in the chain \((f_1,\ldots,f_{\ell})\) is defined to be the degree of the polynomial \(Q\) in \((\ast\ast)\). The tuple \((n,\ell,\alpha,\beta)\) is the format of the Pfaffian function \(q\) above. Let \((f_1,\ldots,f_{\ell})\) be a Pfaffian chain, and let \[ U=\{\mathbf x\in\mathbb R^n:g_1(\mathbf x)>0,\ldots,g_k(\mathbf x)>0\}\;(\ast\ast\ast) \] be an open domain, where \(g_1,\ldots,g_k\) are Pfaffian functions that are expressible in the chain \((f_1,\ldots,f_{\ell})\). Let \({\mathcal P}=\{p_1, \ldots,p_s\}\) be a set of Pfaffian functions expressible in the chain \((f_1,\ldots,f_{\ell})\). A formula \(\Phi\) is called a quantifier-free Pfaffian formula on \({\mathcal P}\) if it is derived from atoms of the form \(p_i\star0\) for \(1\leq i\leq s\) and \(\star\in\{=,<,>\}\), using conjunctions, disjunctions and negations. A subset \( X\subset \mathbb R^n\) is called a semi-Pfaffian set if there exists a quantifier-free formula \(\Phi\) whose atoms are Pfaffian functions expressible in some chain \((f_1,\ldots,f_{\ell})\) defined on a domain \(U\subset\mathbb R^n\) of the form \((\ast\ast\ast)\), such that \( X=\{\mathbf x\in U:\Phi(\mathbf x)\}\). The tuple \((n,\ell,\alpha,\beta,s)\) is called the format of \(\Phi\), and also the format of \( X\), if \((n,\ell,\alpha,\beta)\) is a bound of the format of each function \(p_i\in{\mathcal P}\). Let \( X\subset U\) be a semi-Pfaffian set, where \(U\subset\mathbb R^n\times\mathbb R_{+}\) is an open domain. The set \( X\) constitutes a semi-Pfaffian family if for any \(\varepsilon>0\) the closure of \( X\cap\{\lambda>\varepsilon\}\) is contained in \(U\). Moreover, for each \(\lambda>0\) it is defined the fiber \( X_{\lambda}=\{\mathbf x\in\mathbb R^n:\;(\mathbf x,\lambda)\in X\}\). The format of the family \( X\) is the format of the fiber \( X_{\lambda}\) for small enough \(\lambda\). Let \( X\) and \(Y\) be semi-Pfaffian families in \(U\) expressible in a common chain \((f_1,\ldots,f_{\ell})\). It is said that \(( X,Y)\) is a semi-Pfaffian couple if and only if each fiber \(Y_{\lambda}\) is closed in \(\mathbb R^n\) and \(\partial( X_{\lambda})\subset Y_{\lambda}\). The format of the couple \(( X,Y)\) is the component-wise maximum of the formats of the families \( X\) and \(Y\). We are in a position to describe the main result of the paper: Main Result: Let \(H_{\star}\) and \(H_{\star}^{BM}\) denote the homology groups associated, respectively, to the singular and the Borel-Moore homology theories. Then, for any semi-Pfaffian couple \(( X,Y)\), the ranks of the groups \(H_k\big(( X,Y)_0\big)\) and \(H_k^{BM}\big(( X,Y)_0\big)\) admit an upper bound that is an explicit function of \(k\) and of the format of the couple \(( X,Y)\). In particular, the dependence in the parameter variable \(\lambda\) of the format of the semi-Pfaffian sets \( X\) and \(Y\) is not involved in these estimates.