Characteristic Cohomology II: Matrix Singularities

Abstract: Let $\mathcal{V} \subset M$ denote any of the varieties of singular $m \times m$ complex matrices which may be general, symmetric, or skew-symmetric ($m$ even), or $m \times p$ matrices, in the corresponding space $M$ of such matrices. A "matrix singularity", $\mathcal{V}_0$ of "type $\mathcal{V}$", for any of the $\mathcal{V} \subset M$ is defined as $\mathcal{V}_0 = f_0^{-1}(\mathcal{V})$ by a germ $f_0 : \mathbb C^n, 0 \to M, 0$ (appropriately transverse to $\mathcal{V}$). In part I of this paper we introduced the notion of characteristic cohomology for a singularity $\mathcal{V}_0$ of type $\mathcal{V}$ for the Milnor fiber (for $\mathcal{V}$ a hypersurface) and for the complement and link (in the general case). We determine here the characteristic cohomology for matrix singularities in all of these cases. For these singularities we had shown in another paper that the Milnor fibers and complements have "compact model submanifolds", which are classical symmetric spaces in the sense of Cartan. We show that characteristic subalgebra is the image of an exterior algebra (or in one case a module on two generators over an exterior algebra) on an explicit set of generators. We give "detection criteria"using the vanishing compact models for identifying a exterior subalgebras in the characteristic sublgebra, when $f_0$ contains a special type of "unfurled kite map". This will be valid for the Milnor fiber, complement, and link.