LAUSR

Abstract The study of singularities of algebraic or analytic spaces over the field of complex numbers is a traditional subject, but, in contrast, the parallel theory over arbitrary algebraically closed fields is still poor and there are lots of interesting questions to be answered. Our main concern here is the study of the Milnor number μ of an isolated hypersurface singularity which is defined as the codimension of the ideal generated by the partial derivatives of a power series that represents locally the hypersurface. This is an important topological invariant of the singularity over the complex numbers, but its behavior changes dramatically when the base field has positive characteristic, in which case it may be infinite and depends upon the local equation of the hypersurface, not being an intrinsic invariant. In this paper we will study the variation of the Milnor number in terms of the local equations, showing that its minimum value has an intrinsic meaning and give necessary and sufficient conditions for its invariance. We also relate the smoothness of the generic fiber of an isolated hypersurface singularity deformation with the finiteness of this number, connecting it to a Bertini type result. At the end, we will show how, in arbitrary characteristic, one defines the sequence μ ⁎ of Milnor numbers of sections of a hypersurface singularity by general linear spaces of increasing codimension.