Now more that a quarter of a century old, intersection homology theory has proven to be a powerful tool in the study of the topology of singular spaces, with deep links to many other areas of mathematics, including combinatorics, differential equations, group representations, and number theory. Like its predecessor, An Introduction to Intersection Homology Theory, Second Edition introduces the power and beauty of intersection homology, explaining the main ideas and omitting, or merely sketching, the difficult proofs. It treats both the basics of the subject and a wide range of applications, providing lucid overviews of highly technical areas that make the subject accessible and prepare readers for more advanced work in the area. This second edition contains entirely new chapters introducing the theory of Witt spaces, perverse sheaves, and the combinatorial intersection cohomology of fans. Intersection homology is a large and growing subject that touches on many aspects of topology, geometry, and algebra. With its clear explanations of the main ideas, this book builds the confidence needed to tackle more specialist, technical texts and provides a framework within which to place them.

This book is a publication in Swiss Seminars, a subseries of Progress in Mathematics. It is an expanded version of the notes from a seminar on intersection cohomology theory, which met at the University of Bern, Switzerland, in the spring of 1983. This volume supplies an introduction to the piecewise linear and sheaf-theoretic versions of that theory as developed by M. Goresky and R. MacPherson in Topology 19 (1980), and in Inventiones Mathematicae 72 (1983). Some familiarity with algebraic topology and sheaf theory is assumed.

This textbook provides a gentle introduction to intersection homology and perverse sheaves, where concrete examples and geometric applications motivate concepts throughout. By giving a taste of the main ideas in the field, the author welcomes new readers to this exciting area at the crossroads of topology, algebraic geometry, analysis, and differential equations. Those looking to delve further into the abstract theory will find ample references to facilitate navigation of both classic and recent literature. Beginning with an introduction to intersection homology from a geometric and topological viewpoint, the text goes on to develop the sheaf-theoretical perspective. Then algebraic geometry comes to the fore: a brief discussion of constructibility opens onto an in-depth exploration of perverse sheaves. Highlights from the following chapters include a detailed account of the proof of the Beilinson–Bernstein–Deligne–Gabber (BBDG) decomposition theorem, applications of perverse sheaves to hypersurface singularities, and a discussion of Hodge-theoretic aspects of intersection homology via Saito’s deep theory of mixed Hodge modules. An epilogue offers a succinct summary of the literature surrounding some recent applications. Intersection Homology & Perverse Sheaves is suitable for graduate students with a basic background in topology and algebraic geometry. By building context and familiarity with examples, the text offers an ideal starting point for those entering the field. This classroom-tested approach opens the door to further study and to current research.

The first expository book-length introduction to intersection homology from the viewpoint of singular and piecewise linear chains.

Let X be a pseudomanifold. In this text, the authors use a simplicial blow-up to define a cochain complex whose cohomology with coefficients in a field, is isomorphic to the intersection cohomology of X, introduced by M. Goresky and R. MacPherson. The authors do it simplicially in the setting of a filtered version of face sets, also called simplicial sets without degeneracies, in the sense of C. P. Rourke and B. J. Sanderson. They define perverse local systems over filtered face sets and intersection cohomology with coefficients in a perverse local system. In particular, as announced above when X is a pseudomanifold, the authors get a perverse local system of cochains quasi-isomorphic to the intersection cochains of Goresky and MacPherson, over a field. We show also that these two complexes of cochains are quasi-isomorphic to a filtered version of Sullivan's differential forms over the field Q. In a second step, they use these forms to extend Sullivan's presentation of rational homotopy type to intersection cohomology.

The central theme of this book is the restoration of Poincaré duality on stratified singular spaces by using Verdier-self-dual sheaves such as the prototypical intersection chain sheaf on a complex variety. Highlights include complete and detailed proofs of decomposition theorems for self-dual sheaves, explanation of methods for computing twisted characteristic classes and an introduction to the author's theory of non-Witt spaces and Lagrangian structures.

Due to the lack of proper bibliographical sources stratification theory seems to be a "mysterious" subject in contemporary mathematics. This book contains a complete and elementary survey - including an extended bibliography - on stratification theory, including its historical development. Some further important topics in the book are: Morse theory, singularities, transversality theory, complex analytic varieties, Lefschetz theorems, connectivity theorems, intersection homology, complements of affine subspaces and combinatorics. The book is designed for all interested students or professionals in this area.

Elementary introduction to stable maps and quantum cohomology presents the problem of counting rational plane curves Viewpoint is mostly that of enumerative geometry Emphasis is on examples, heuristic discussions, and simple applications to best convey the intuition behind the subject Ideal for self-study, for a mini-course in quantum cohomology, or as a special topics text in a standard course in intersection theory

This is a two-volume series research monograph on the general Lagrangian Floer theory and on the accompanying homological algebra of filtered $A_\infty$-algebras. This book provides the most important step towards a rigorous foundation of the Fukaya category in general context. In Volume I, general deformation theory of the Floer cohomology is developed in both algebraic and geometric contexts. An essentially self-contained homotopy theory of filtered $A_\infty$ algebras and $A_\infty$ bimodules and applications of their obstruction-deformation theory to the Lagrangian Floer theory are presented. Volume II contains detailed studies of two of the main points of the foundation of the theory: transversality and orientation. The study of transversality is based on the virtual fundamental chain techniques (the theory of Kuranishi structures and their multisections) and chain level intersection theories. A detailed analysis comparing the orientations of the moduli spaces and their fiber products is carried out. A self-contained account of the general theory of Kuranishi structures is also included in the appendix of this volume.