The Hertling conjecture in dimension 2

Abstract

We consider an isolated plane curve singularity and its associated Eisenbud an Neumann diagram. We give an algorithm to compute the maximal spectral value on the diagram and we show that the singularity is topologically equivalent to another singularity for which the maximal spectral value is given by the point $(1,1)$ in the plane of the Newton polygon. From the almost additivity on the splice components of the diagram we compute the sum of the square of the spectral values. This formula with the previous result on the maximal spectral value give us the Hertling conjecture as a corollary.