On the rational homotopy type of intersection spaces

Abstract

Banagl's method of intersection spaces allows to modify certain types of stratified pseudomanifolds near the singular set in such a way that the rational Betti numbers of the modified spaces satisfy generalized Poincare duality in analogy with Goresky-MacPherson's intersection homology. In the case of one isolated singularity, we show that the duality isomorphism comes from a nondegenerate intersection pairing which depends on the choice of a chain representative of the fundamental class of the regular stratum. On the technical side, we use piecewise linear polynomial differential forms due to Sullivan to define a suitable commutative cochain algebra model for intersection spaces. Our construction parallels Banagl's commutative cochain algebra of smooth differential forms modeling intersection space cohomology, and we show that both algebras are weakly equivalent.