The tree model of a meromorphic plane curve (Q742223)

This paper describes plane curves in terms of the factorisation \(f(x,y)=\prod_{i=1}^n(y-y_i(x))\) and accordingly \(f\) is taken as monic polynomial in \({\mathbb K}((x))[y]\) with \(\mathbb K\) be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. The author gives a description of the factorization of the polar curve \(f_y\) and more generally of the Jacobian \(J(f,g)=f_xg_y-f_yg_x\) in terms of the contact structure of \(f\), resp of \(fg\), generalising results of \textit{M. Merle} [Invent. Math. 41, 103--111 (1977; Zbl 0371.14003)] and \textit{F. Delgado de la Mata} [Compos. Math. 92, No. 3, 327--375 (1994; Zbl 0816.14012)]. He introduces a tree, which describes at which level of contact the irreducible components of the curve separate. The author gives explicit formulas for degrees, contacts and intersection multiplicities in terms of invariants associated with the tree models of \(f\), \(g\) and \(fg\), and writes: ``Although these results are technical, we think that such precise formulas would be of interest for the study of problems such as the Jacobian conjecture in the plane.''