Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 January 2016
Let (X, O) be a germ of a normal surface singularity, π: → X be the minimal resolution of singularities and let A = (ai,j) be the n × n symmetrical intersection matrix of the exceptional set of In an old preprint Nash proves that the set of arcs on a surface singularity is a scheme , and defines a map from the set of irreducible components of to the set of exceptional components of the minimal resolution of singularities of (X,O). He proved that this map is injective and ask if it is surjective. In this paper we consider the canonical decomposition
• For any couple (Ei,Ej) of distinct exceptional components, we define Numerical Nash condition (NN(i,j)). We have that (NN(i,j)) implies In this paper we prove that (NN(i,j)) is always true for at least the half of couples (i,j).
• The condition (NN(i,j)) is true for all couples (i,j) with i ≠ j, characterizes a certain class of negative definite matrices, that we call Nash matrices. If A is a Nash matrix then the Nash map N is bijective. In particular our results depend only on A and not on the topological type of the exceptional set.
• We recover and improve considerably almost all results known on this topic and our proofs are new and elementary.
• We give infinitely many other classes of singularities where Nash Conjecture is true.
The proofs are based on my old work [8] and in Plenat [10].