The {\L}ojasiewicz Exponent via The Valuative Hamburger-Noether Process

Abstract

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of any characteristic. We apply the Hamburger-Noether process of successive quadratic transformations to show the equivalence of two definitions of the {\L}ojasiewicz exponent $\mathfrak{L}(\mathfrak{a})$ of an ideal $\mathfrak{a}\subset k[[x,y]]$.