Lê modules and traces

Abstract

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.