Topological and bilipschitz types of complex surface singularities and their links

Abstract

In this paper, we prove that two normal complex surface germs that are inner bilipschitz--but not necessarily orientation-preserving--homeomorphic, have in fact the same oriented topological type and the same minimal plumbing graph. Along the way, we show that the oriented homeomorphism type of an isolated complex surface singularity germ determines the oriented homeomorphism type of its link, providing a converse to the classical Conical Structure Theorem. These results require to study the topology first, and the inner lipschitz geometry later, of Hirzebruch-Jung and cusp singularities, the normal surface singularities whose links are lens spaces and fiber bundles over the circle.