To Jack, whose profoundness and clarity of vision seep into our appreciation of the beauty and depth of mathematics.Abstract. Milnor's fibration theorem is about the geometry and topology of real and complex analytic maps near their critical points, a ubiquitous theme in mathematics. As such, after 50 years, this has become a whole area of research on its own, with a vast literature, plenty of different viewpoints, a large progeny and connections with many other branches of mathematics. In this work we revisit the classical theory in both the real and complex settings, and we glance at some areas of current research and connections with other important topics. The purpose of this article is two-fold. On the one hand, it should serve as an introduction to the topic for non-experts, and on the other hand, it gives a wide perspective of some of the work on the subject that has been and is being done. It includes a vast literature for further reading.
IntroductionMilnor's fibration theorem in [189] is a milestone in singularity theory that has opened the way to a myriad of insights and new understandings. This is a beautiful piece of mathematics, where many different branches, aspects and ideas, come together. The theorem concerns the geometry and topology of analytic maps near their critical points.Consider the simplest case, a holomorphic map (C n+1 , 0) f â (C, 0) taking the origin into the origin, with an isolated critical point at 0. As an example one can have in mind the Pham-Brieskorn polynomials:(0.1) z â z a 0 0 + · · · + z an n , a i â„ 2 for all i = 0, 1, · · · , n .Since f is analytic, there exists r > 0 sufficiently small so that 0 â C is the only critical value of the restriction f | Br , where B r is the open ball of radius r and center at 0. Set V := f â1 (0) and V * := V \ {0} .