Topological invariance of intersection homology without sheaves

Abstract

In (1) Goresky and MacPherson defined intersection homology groups for triangulable pseudomanifolds and showed they were PL invariants. Then in [2] they generalized these groups to any pseudomanifold and showed they were topological invariants. These groups have generated a great deal of interest. However, [2] is difficult for many mathematicians (including this author) because it requires a familiarity with a great deal of hefty sheaf-theoretic machinery. This is too bad, because the basic ideas behind intersection homology (elucidated in [1]) are very geometric. In this paper we give a sheafless definition of intersection homology groups for an arbitrary stratified set and we give an elementary sheafless proof that they are topological invariants, i.e. independent of the stratification. In doing so, we find some new perversities whose intersection homology groups are topological invariants. Unfortunately, these new perverse intersection homology classes do not seem to intersect with anything (which is probably why they were ignored by Goresky and MacPherson). But in any case these groups are invariants of singular spaces which might be of some interest.