Deformation and Smoothing of Singularities

Abstract

We give a survey on some aspects of deformations of isolated singularities. In addition to the presentation of the general theory, we report on the question of the smoothability of a singularity and on relations between different invariants, such as the Milnor number, the Tjurina number, and the dimension of a smoothing component.

This is intended as a chapter of the forthcoming "Handbook on the Geometry and Topology of Singularites"