We consider an arbitrary polynomial map $f:{\mathbb C}^{n+1}\to {\mathbb C} $ and we study the Alexander invariants of ${\mathbb C}^{n+1}\setminus X$ for any fiber $X$ of $f$. The article has two major messages. First, the most important qualitative properties of the Alexander modules are completely independent of the behaviour of $f$ at infinity, or about the special fibers. Second, all the Alexander invariants of all the fibers of the polynomial $f$ are closely related to the monodromy representation of $f$. In fact, all the torsion parts of the Alexander modules (associated with all the possible fibers) can be obtained by factorization of a unique universal Alexander module, which is constructed from the monodromy representation. Additionally, the article extends some results of A. Libgober about Alexander modules of hypersurface complements.
We define twisted Alexander polynomials of a complex hypersurface with arbitrary singularities. These generalize the classical Alexander polynomials of high dimensional hypersurfaces and the twisted Alexander polynomial of plane curves. We recover the classical torsionness and divisibility results, which say that, under certain assumptions, the twisted Alexander modules of a complex hypersurface are torsion modules, and that their orders, the twisted Alexander polynomials, divide the product of certain `local polynomials' defined in terms of the topology near singularities.
We give a survey on some aspects of the topological investigation of isolated singularities of complex hypersurfaces by means of Picard-Lefschetz theory. We focus on the concept of distinguished bases of vanishing cycles and the concept of monodromy.
We discuss some formulae which express the Alexander polynomial (and thus the zeta-function of the classical monodromy transformation) of a plane curve singularity in terms of the ring of functions on the curve. One of them describes the coefficients of the Alexander polynomial or of zeta-function of the monodromy transformation as Euler characteristics of some explicitly constructed spaces. For the Alexander polynomial these spaces are complements to arrangements of projective hyperplanes in projective spaces. For the zeta-function they are disjoint unions of such spaces. Under the influence …
Let $X$ be a general complex projective hypersurface in $\mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ of degree $d>1$. A point $P$ not in $X$ is called uniform if the monodromy group of the projection of $X$ from $P$ is isomorphic to the symmetric group. We prove that all the points in $\mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ are uniform for $X$, generalizing a result of Cukierman on general plane curves.
For a subvariety of a smooth projective variety, consider the family of smooth hypersurfaces of sufficiently large degree containing it, and take the quotient of the middle cohomology of the hypersurfaces by the cohomology of the ambient variety and also by the cycle classes of the irreducible components of the subvariety. Using Deligne's semisimplicity theorem together with Steenbrink's theory for semistable degenerations, we give a simpler proof of the first author's theorem (with a better bound of the degree of hypersurfaces) that this monodromy representation is irreducible.
We introduce braid monodromy for the discriminant hypersurface in versal unfoldings of hypersurface singularities. Our objective is then to compute this invariant for singularities of Brieskorn Pham type: First we consider the unfolding by linear monomials in some detail and relate it to the versal unfolding. Next we present the A_n case in our framework. The two main chapters then provide the result in case of two variables and the inductive step to all higher dimensions. We finish with a presentation of the fundamental group of the discriminant complement.
We give sharp lower bounds for the degree of the syzygies involving the partial derivatives of a homogeneous polynomial defining a nodal hypersurface. The result gives information on the position of the singularities of a nodal hypersurface expressed in terms of defects or superabundances. The case of Chebyshev hypersurfaces is considered as a test for this result and leads to a potentially infinite family of nodal hypersurfaces having nontrivial Alexander polynomials.
Let $X$ be an irreducible, reduced complex projective hypersurface of degree $d$. A point $P$ not contained in $X$ is called uniform if the monodromy group of the projection of $X$ from $P$ is isomorphic to the symmetric group $S_d$. We prove that the locus of non--uniform points is finite when $X$ is smooth or a general projection of a smooth variety. In general, it is contained in a finite union of linear spaces of codimension at least $2$, except possibly for a special class of hypersurfaces with singular locus linear in codimension $1$. Moreover, we generalise a result of Fukasawa and Taka…
We start with a discussion on Alexander invariants, and then prove some general results concerning the divisibility of the Alexander polynomials and the supports of the Alexander modules, via Artin's vanishing theorem for perverse sheaves. We conclude with explicit computations of twisted cohomology following an idea already exploited in the hyperplane arrangement case, which combines the degeneration of the Hodge to de Rham spectral sequence to the purity of some cohomology groups.
To any complex algebraic variety endowed with a morphism to a complex affine torus we associate multivariable cohomological Alexander modules, and define natural mixed Hodge structures on their maximal Artinian submodules. The key ingredients of our construction are Gabber-Loeser's Mellin transformation and Hain-Zucker's work on unipotent variations of mixed Hodge structures. As applications, we prove the quasi-unipotence of monodromy, we obtain upper bounds on the sizes of the Jordan blocks of monodromy, and we explore the change in the Alexander modules after removing fibers of the map. We a…
The monodromy conjecture is an umbrella term for several conjectured relationships between poles of zeta functions, monodromy eigenvalues and roots of Bernstein-Sato polynomials in arithmetic geometry and singularity theory. Even the weakest of these relations -- the Denef--Loeser conjecture on topological zeta functions -- is open for surface singularities. We prove it for a wide class of multidimensional singularities that are non-degenerate with respect to their Newton polyhedra, including all such singularities of functions of four variables. A crucial difference from the known case of thr…
We study the topology of the space of affine hyperplanes $L \subset \CC^n$ which are in general position with respect to a given generic quadratic hypersurface $A$, and calculate the monodromy action of the fundamental group of this space on the relative homology groups $H_*(\CC^n, A \cup L)$ associated with such hyperplanes.
Let $Y$ be an $(m+1)$-dimensional irreducible smooth complex projective variety embedded in a projective space. Let $Z$ be a closed subscheme of $Y$, and $δ$ be a positive integer such that $\mathcal I_{Z,Y}(δ)$ is generated by global sections. Fix an integer $d\geq δ+1$, and assume the general divisor $X \in |H^0(Y,\ic_{Z,Y}(d))|$ is smooth. Denote by $H^m(X;\mathbb Q)_{\perp Z}^{\text{van}}$ the quotient of $H^m(X;\mathbb Q)$ by the cohomology of $Y$ and also by the cycle classes of the irreducible components of dimension $m$ of $Z$. In the present paper we prove that the monodromy represent…
Let $V$ be a degree $d$, reduced hypersurface in $\mathbb{CP}^{n+1}$, $n \geq 1$, and fix a generic hyperplane, $H$. Denote by $\mathcal{U}$ the (affine) hypersurface complement, $\mathbb{CP}^{n+1}- V \cup H$, and let $\mathcal{U}^c$ be the infinite cyclic covering of $\mathcal{U}$ corresponding to the kernel of the linking number homomorphism. Using intersection homology theory, we give a new construction of the Alexander modules $H_i(\mathcal{U}^c;\mathbb{Q})$ of the hypersurface complement and show that, if $i \leq n$, these are torsion over the ring of rational Laurent polynomials. We also…
We show that there are obstructions to the existence of certain types of invariant subspaces of the Milnor monodromy; this places restrictions on the cohomology of Milnor fibres of non-isolated hypersurface singularities.
A relation is proved between the Poincaré series of the coordinate algebra of a two-dimensional quasihomogeneous isolated hypersurface singularity and the characteristic polynomial of its monodromy operator. For a Kleinian singularity not of type $A_{2n}$, this amounts to the statement that the Poincaré series is the quotient of the characteristic polynomial of the Coxeter element by the characteristic polynomial of the affine Coxeter element of the corresponding root system. We show that this result also follows from the McKay correspondence.
The Monodromy Conjecture asserts that if c is a pole of the local topological zeta function of a hypersurface, then exp(2πi c) is an eigenvalue of the monodromy on the cohomology of the Milnor fiber. A stronger version of the conjecture asserts that every pole is a root of the Bernstein-Sato polynomial of the hypersurface. In this note we prove the weak version of the conjecture for hyperplane arrangements. Furthermore, we reduce the strong version to the following conjecture: -n/d is always a root of the Bernstein-Sato polynomial of an indecomposable essential central hyperplane arrangement o…
The classical polynomial interpolation problem in several variables can be generalized to the case of points with greater multiplicities. What is known, as yet, is essentially concentrated in the Alexander-Hirschowitz Theorem which says that a general collection of double points in P^r gives independent conditions on the linear system L of the hypersurfaces of degree d, with a well known list of exceptions. We present a new proof of this theorem which consists in performing degenerations of P^r and analyzing how L degenerates.
We describe an algorithm computing the monodromy and the pole order filtration on the top Milnor fiber cohomology of hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{P}^n$ whose pole order spectral sequence degenerates at the second page. In the case of hyperplane arrangements and free, locally quasi-homogeneous hypersurfaces, and assuming a key conjecture, this algorithm is much faster than for a hypersurface as above. Our conjecture is supported by the results due to L. Narv\' ez Macarro and M. Saito on the roots of Bernstein-Sato polynomials of such hypersurfaces, by all the examples computed so far, and by one p…
In this note we consider the Milnor fiber $F$ associated to a reduced projective plane curve $C$. A computational approach for the determination of the characteristic polynomial of the monodromy action on the first cohomology group of $F$, also known as the Alexander polynomial of the curve $C$, is presented. This leads to an effective algorithm to detect all the monodromy eigenvalues and, in many cases, explicit bases for the monodromy eigenspaces in terms of polynomial differential forms.
We introduce the etale framework to study Igusa zeta functions in several variables, generalizing the machinery of vanishing cycles in the univariate case. We define the etale Alexander modules, associated to a morphism of varieties F from X to affine r-space, a geometric point of X, and an object in the derived category of constructible l-adic sheaves on the inverse image of the r-torus under F. The Alexander modules are sheaves of modules on the scheme of continuous characters of the tame fundamental group of the r-torus. We formulate Loeser's Monodromy and Holomorphy Conjectures for multiva…
Let $\{V_q\}_{q}$ be a complex one-parameter family of smooth hypersurfaces in a toric variety. In this paper, we give a concrete description of the monodromy transformation of $\{V_q\}_q$ around $q=\infty$ in terms of tropical geometry. The main tool is the tropical localization introduced by Mikhalkin.
A log generic hypersurface in $\mathbb{P}^n$ with respect to a birational modification of $\mathbb{P}^n$ is by definition the image of a generic element of a high power of an ample linear series on the modification. A log very-generic hypersurface is defined similarly but restricting to line bundles satisfying a non-resonance condition. Fixing a log resolution of a product $f=f_1\ldots f_p$ of polynomials, we show that the monodromy conjecture, relating the motivic zeta function with the complex monodromy, holds for the tuple $(f_1,\ldots,f_p,g)$ and for the product $fg$, if $g$ is log generic…
I describe the monodromy of smooth hypersurfaces $X$ of high degree in a fixed smooth variety $Y$ containing a fixed subvariety $W$ of $Y$. The cohomology of $X$ in middle degree spanned by the pull-back of the cohomology of $Y$ and by the classes of the irreducible components of $W$ is monodromy invariant. I show that the monodromy representation on the orthogonal of those classes is irreducible. The proof is essentially topological. Difficulties arise from the fact that $W$ may have arbitrary singularities.
Let $k$ be an uncountable algebraically closed field of characteristic $0$, and let $X$ be a smooth projective connected variety of dimension $2p$, appropriately embedded into $\mathbb P^m$ over $k$. Let $Y$ be a hyperplane section of $X$, and let $A^p(Y)$ and $A^{p+1}(X)$ be the groups of algebraically trivial algebraic cycles of codimension $p$ and $p+1$ modulo rational equivalence on $Y$ and $X$ respectively. Assume that, whenever $Y$ is smooth, the group $A^p(Y)$ is regularly parametrized by an abelian variety $A$ and coincides with the subgroup of degree $0$ classes in the Chow group $CH^…
Let A be an arrangement of complex hyperplanes. The fundamental group of the complement of A is determined by a braid monodromy homomorphism from a finitely generated free group to the pure braid group. Using the Gassner representation of the pure braid group, we find an explicit presentation for the Alexander invariant of A. From this presentation, we obtain combinatorial lower bounds for the ranks of the Chen groups of A. We also provide a combinatorial criterion for when these lower bounds are attained.
This paper is a sequel to [He7]. There a notion of marking of isolated hypersurface singularities was defined, and a moduli space $M_μ^{mar}$ for marked singularities in one $μ$-homotopy class of isolated hypersurface singularities was established. One can consider it as a global $μ$-constant stratum or as a Teichmüller space for singularities. It comes together with a $μ$-constant monodromy group $G^{mar}\subset G_Z$. Here $G_Z$ is the group of automorphisms of a Milnor lattice which respect the Seifert form. It was conjectured that $M_μ^{mar}$ is connected. This is equivalent to $G^{mar}= G_…
We introduce and study the vanishing homology of singular projective hypersurfaces. We prove its concentration in two levels in case of 1-dimensional singular locus $Σ$, and moreover determine the ranks of the nontrivial homology groups. These two groups depend on the monodromy at special points of $Σ$ and on the effect of the monodromy of the local system over its complement.
We consider a hypersurface in $\mathbb{C}^n$ with an isolated singular point at the origin, and study the mixed Hodge structure of the stalk of its intersection cohomology complex at the origin. In particular we express the dimension of each graded piece of the weight filtration of this mixed Hodge structure in terms of the numbers of the Jordan blocks in the Milnor monodromy.
In previous work jointly with Geske, Maxim and Wang, we constructed a mixed Hodge structure (MHS) on the torsion part of Alexander modules, which generalizes the MHS on the cohomology of the Milnor fiber for weighted homogeneous polynomials. The cohomology of a Milnor fiber carries a monodromy action, whose semisimple part is an isomorphism of MHS. The natural question of whether this result still holds for Alexander modules was then posed. In this paper, we give a positive answer to that question, which implies that the direct sum decomposition of the torsion part of Alexander modules into ge…
We describe a multivariable polynomial invariant for certain class of non isolated hypersurface singularities generalizing the characteristic polynomial on monodromy. The starting point is an extension of a theorem due to Le Dung Trang and K.Saito on commutativity of the local fundamental groups of certain hypersurfaces. The description of multivariable polynomial invariants is given in terms of the ideals and polytopes of quasiadjunction generalizing corresponding data used in the study of the homotopy groups of the complements to projective hypersurfaces and Alexander invariants of plane red…
We say that a complex analytic space, $X$, is an intersection cohomology manifold if and only if the shifted constant sheaf on $X$ is isomorphic to intersection cohomology; this is quickly seen to be equivalent to $X$ being a homology manifold. Given an analytic function $f$ on an intersection cohomology manifold, we describe a simple relation between $V(f)$ being an intersection cohomology manifold and the vanishing cycle Milnor monodromy of $f$. We then describe how the Sebastiani-Thom isomorphism allows us to easily produce intersection cohomology manifolds with arbitrary singular sets. Fin…
Consider the gradient map associated to any non-constant homogeneous polynomial $f\in \C[x_0,...,x_n]$ of degree $d$, defined by \[ϕ_f=grad(f): D(f)\to \CP^n, (x_0:...:x_n)\to (f_0(x):...:f_n(x))\] where $D(f)=\{x\in \CP^n; f(x)\neq 0\}$ is the principal open set associated to $f$ and $f_i=\frac{\partial f}{\partial x_i}$. This map corresponds to polar Cremona transformations. In Proposition \ref{p1} we give a new lower bound for the degree $d(f)$ of $ϕ_f$ under the assumption that the projective hypersurface $V:f=0 $ has only isolated singularities. When $d(f)=1$, Theorem \ref{t4} yields very…
We prove that for any germ of complex analytic set in $\CC^n$ there exists a hypersurface singularity whose Milnor fibration has trivial geometric monodromy and fibre homotopic to the complement of the germ of complex analytic set. As an application we show an example of a quasi-homogeneous hypersurface singularity, with trivial geometric monodromy and simply connected and non-formal Milnor fibre.
We show how some of our recent results clarify the relationship between the Lê numbers and the cohomology of the Milnor fiber of a non-isolated hypersurface singularity. The Lê numbers are actually the ranks of the free Abelian groups -- the Lê modules -- appearing in a complex whose cohomology is that of the Milnor fiber. Moreover, the Milnor monodromy acts on the Lê module complex, and we describe the traces of these monodromy actions in terms of the topology of the critical locus.
This is an introduction to topology of complement to plane curves and hypersurfaces in the projective space and is based on the lectures given in Lumini in February and in ICTP (Trieste) in August of 2005. We discuss key problems concerning the families of singular curves, the one variable Alexander polynomials and the module over ring of Laurent polynomials structure on the homotopy groups of the complements to hypersurfaces with isolated singularities. We also discuss multivariable generalizations of these invariants and the Hodge theory of infinite abelian covers used in calculations of mul…
The paper reviews recent developments in the study of Alexander invariants of quasi-projective manifolds using methods of singularity theory. Several results in topology of the complements to singular plane curves and hypersurfaces in projective space extended to the case of curves on simply connected smooth projective surfaces.
This paper is a sequel to [He11] and [GH17]. In [He11] a notion of marking of isolated hypersurface singularities was defined, and a moduli space $M_μ^{mar}$ for marked singularities in one $μ$-homotopy class of isolated hypersurface singularities was established. It is an analogue of a Teichmüller space. It comes together with a $μ$-constant monodromy group $G^{mar}\subset G_{\mathbb{Z}}$. Here $G_{\mathbb{Z}}$ is the group of automorphisms of a Milnor lattice which respect the Seifert form. It was conjectured that $M_μ^{mar}$ is connected. This is equivalent to $G^{mar}= G_{\mathbb{Z}}$. Als…
We show that the kernel of the monodromy representation for hypersurfaces of degree d and dimension n is large for d at least three with the exception of the cases (d,n) = (3,0) and (3,1). For these the kernel is finite. By "large" we mean a group that admits a homomorphism to a semisimple Lie group of noncompact type with Zariski-dense image. By the Tits alternative a large group contains a free subgroup of rank two.
Kodaira's classification of singular fibers in elliptic fibrations and its translation into the language of monodromies and Lefschetz fibrations has been a boon to the study of 4-manifolds. In this article, we begin the work of translating between singular fibers of genus 2 families of algebraic curves and the positive Dehn twist factorizations of Lefschetz fibrations for a certain subset of the singularities described by Namikawa and Ueno in the 70s. We look at four families of hypersurface singularities in $\mathbb{C}^3$. Each hypersurface comes equipped with a fibration by genus 2 algebraic…
The motivic nearby fiber is an invariant obtained from degenerating a complex variety over a disc. It specializes to the Euler characteristic of the original variety but also contains information on the variation of Hodge structure associated to the degeneration which is encoded as a limit mixed Hodge structure. However, this invariant is difficult to compute in practice. Using the techniques of tropical geometry we present a new formula for the motivic nearby fiber. Moreover, since there is a range of available software implementing the main algorithms in tropical geometry, our formula can be…
Given a family $X$ of complex varieties degenerating over a punctured disc, one is interested in computing related invariants called the motivic nearby fiber and the refined limit mixed Hodge numbers, both of which contain information about the induced action of monodromy on the cohomology of a fiber of $X$. Our first main result is that the motivic nearby fiber of $X$ can be computed by first stratifying $X$ into locally closed subvarieties that are non-degenerate in the sense of Tevelev, and then applying an explicit formula on each piece of the stratification that involves tropical geometry…
In the author's paper ''Poincaré series and monodromy of a two-dimensional quasihomogeneous hypersurface singularity'' a relation is proved between the Poincaré series of the coordinate algebra of a two-dimensional quasihomogeneous isolated hypersurface singularity and the characteristic polynomial of its monodromy operator. We study this relation for Fuchsian singularities and show that it is connected with the mirror symmetry of K3 surfaces and with automorphisms of the Leech lattice. We also indicate relations between other singularities and Conway's group.
Motivated by the limit mixed Hodge structure on the Milnor fiber of a hypersurface singularity germ, we construct a natural mixed Hodge structure on the torsion part of the Alexander modules of a smooth connected complex algebraic variety. More precisely, let $U$ be a smooth connected complex algebraic variety and let $f\colon U\to \mathbb{C}^*$ be an algebraic map inducing an epimorphism in fundamental groups. The pullback of the universal cover of $\mathbb{C}^*$ by $f$ gives rise to an infinite cyclic cover $U^f$ of $U$. The action of the deck group $\mathbb{Z}$ on $U^f$ induces a $\mathbb{Q…
Using his deep and beautiful idea of cutting with a Hyperplane, Lefschetz explained how the homology groups of a projective smooth variety could be constructed from basic pieces, that he called primitive homology. This idea can be applied every time we have a vector space with a biliner form (i.e. homology with cup product) and a $\pm$-symmetric nilpotent operator (i.e. cutting with a hyperplane). We will illustrate this in the context of Singularity Theory: A germ of an isolated singular point of a hypersurface defined by $f=0$. We begin with the algebraic setting in the Jacobian (or Milnor) …
