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For $\dim L=2n-1$ and lower middle perversity, the suspension with two distinct vertices has $I{H}_i(\mathrm{Susp}L)=I{H}_i(L)$ for $i<n$, zero for $i=n$, and $I{H}_{i-1}(L)$ for $i>n$. Cover it by its two open cones. The Mayer–Vietoris sequence compares their truncated groups with $I{H}_{\ast }(L)$; below $n$ the overlap map is the injective signed diagonal, and above $n$ both cone groups vanish.

The lower middle perversity is $\bar{m}(k)=\lfloor (k-2)/2\rfloor$. The complementary upper middle perversity is $\bar{n}(k)=\lceil (k-2)/2\rceil$, and $\bar{m}(k)+\bar{n}(k)=k-2$. They agree at even codimensions.

Use rational coefficients and finite singular chains. For an $N$-dimensional stratified pseudomanifold with filtration $X_j$, the lower middle perversity isA singular simplex $\sigma :{\Delta }^i\to X$ is an allowable singular simplex when, for every $k\ge 2$, ${\sigma }^{-1}(X_{N-k})$ lies in the $(i-k+\bar{m}(k))$-skeleton of ${\Delta }^i$; negative-dimensional skeletons are empty. Let $A_i$ be the span of these simplices in $S_i(X;\mathbb{Q})$. The intersection chains areThe condition on $\partial c$ is imposed after combining equal simplices and cancelling coefficients: the faces of an allowable simplex need not themselves be allowable. If $c\in I{S}_i$, then $\partial c\in A_{i-1}$ and $\partial (\partial c)=0$, so $\partial c\in I{S}_{i-1}$. Thus $I{S}_{\ast }$ is a chain subcomplex of $S_{\ast }$, and $I{H}_i(X)=H_i(I{S}_{\ast })$ defines intersection homology.

Write $v$ for the vertex of $cY$. Its codimension is $2n$, so the vertex condition for an allowable $i$-simplex isIn particular all simplices of degree at most $n$ avoid $v$. For $i<n$, both the degree-$i$ chains and the degree-$(i+1)$ chains that can bound them lie in $cY\setminus \{v\}=Y\times (0,1)$. The two chain complexes therefore have the same cycles and boundaries in degree $i$, proving the low-degree isomorphism.

For $i\ge n$, let $z$ be an allowable $i$-cycle. Cone every simplex of $z$ radially to $v$, using the cone on ${\Delta }^i$ as ${\Delta }^{i+1}$, and write the resulting chain as $cz$. At the vertex, coning an old inverse image in the $(i-n-1)$-skeleton gives a subset of the $(i-n)$-skeleton, and the new cone vertex also lies in this skeleton because $i-n\ge 0$. For every other singular stratum, coning the inverse image increases its permitted skeleton dimension by one, exactly as increasing the simplex dimension does. Thus $cz$ is allowable. The usual cone identity is $\partial (cz)=z-c(\partial z)=z$; since $z$ is allowable, the boundary condition for intersection chains holds as well. Every cycle is consequently a boundary. This proves the intersection homology cone formula here:The assumption $\dim Y=2n-1$ entails $n\ge 1$, so no augmented degree-zero exception arises in this coning argument.

For the suspension of a topological space, the two endpoints are collapsed separately, giving two distinct vertices. Use the following standard computational facts for intersection homology: a product with an interval has the same intersection homology as the original stratified space, via the projection and its stratum-preserving homotopy inverse; and an open cover has a Mayer–Vietoris sequence whose overlap map is the signed pair of inclusion maps. Cover the suspension by its two open cones. Their overlap is $Y\times (-\epsilon ,\epsilon )$. Below degree $n$, the overlap map is, under the interval identifications, $a\mapsto (a,-a)$ in $I{H}_i(Y)\oplus I{H}_i(Y)$, hence is injective with cokernel $I{H}_i(Y)$. In degree $n$ both cone groups vanish and the next overlap map, in degree $n-1$, is still injective. Above degree $n$ both adjacent cone groups vanish. Exactness therefore givesThis differs from ordinary reduced suspension homology: below the cutoff the cycles cannot use either vertex, and in the middle degree coning kills them. If $Y$ is a compact oriented Witt space, its Poincare duality pairs $I{H}_i(Y)$ with $I{H}_{2n-1-i}(Y)$. The displayed groups of the suspension are correspondingly paired in complementary degrees $i$ and $2n-i$, while its middle group is zero. The new vertices have even codimension $2n$ and thus impose no additional Witt space condition; the suspension is again Witt. Its middle intersection form has zero rank and, when its dimension is divisible by four, zero signature.

Put $B=\partial M$ and let $v$ be the cone vertex. Specify the convention away from the Witt case: first take intersection cohomology to mean the hypercohomology of the intersection complex $I{C}_{\bar{m}}$, normalized in degree zero on the regular stratum. The lower middle perversity at the vertex is $\bar{m}(2m+1)=m-1$. The standard local cone calculation for this convention saysand restriction to $U\simeq B$ is the identity below the cutoff. Here this can also be read directly from the construction $I{C}_{\bar{m}}={\tau }_{\le m-1}R{j}_{\ast }\mathbb{Q}$, with $j:\hat{M}\setminus \{v\}\hookrightarrow \hat{M}$: punctured conical neighbourhoods retract onto $B$, and the truncation discards the degrees above $m-1$.

Define relative intersection cohomology as the hypercohomology of the homotopy fibre of restriction, namely $R\Gamma (\hat{M},\hat{U};IC)=\mathrm{Cone}(R\Gamma (\hat{M};IC)\to R\Gamma (\hat{U};IC))[-1]$. Restricting to the pair $(M,U)$ gives a map to the corresponding ordinary relative cohomology, since $IC{|}_M={\mathbb{Q}}_M$. The induced map of exact triangles gives the requested commutative diagram:Both rows are long exact cohomology sequences of a pair. Commutativity includes the connecting homomorphisms, because they arise from the same map of restriction cones, with a common sign convention. The relative vertical maps are isomorphisms: excision removes the common conical neighbourhood, leaving precisely the manifold pair outside it, where $IC$ is constant. Also the collar retracts onto $B$, so $H^{\ast }(M,U)\cong H^{\ast }(M,B)$.

The only possible nonmanifold stratum is $v$, with link $B$ of dimension $2m$. Since intersection homology of a manifold is ordinary homology, the exact necessary and sufficient condition isThe equivalence with the defining $H_m(B;\mathbb{Q})=0$ follows from the universal coefficient theorem for cohomology over $\mathbb{Q}$. In the Witt case the cone restriction is an isomorphism through degree $m$, since both degree-$m$ groups are zero. Comparing the two exact rows, or applying the Five lemma to each five-term segment, gives $I{H}^i(\hat{M})\cong H^i(M)$ for $i\le m$. For $i>m$, both $I{H}^{i-1}(\hat{U})$ and $I{H}^i(\hat{U})$ vanish, so the top row identifies the absolute group with the relative one. HenceWithout the Witt hypothesis, comparison still gives $I{H}_{\bar{m}}^i(\hat{M})\cong H^i(M)$ for $i<m$. At degree $m$ the upper row readsThe lower row identifies the quotient by $\mathrm{im}\delta$ with the image of the relative-to-absolute map. In higher degrees both cone terms vanish. Thus the full lower-middle Deligne answer isFor clarity, if $I{H}^i$ is instead defined as the linear dual of the lower-middle intersection chains of question 1, it corresponds to the complementary upper middle perversity Deligne sheaf. Its cone group retains $H^m(B)$ as well. The same diagram then givesEquivalently the exceptional group is $H^{m+1}(M,B)/\mathrm{im}(H^m(B)\stackrel{\delta }{\to }{H}^{m+1}(M,B))$. These conventions agree under the stated Witt condition, explaining why that condition removes the ambiguity.

Take the solid torus $M=S^1\times D^2$, whose boundary is the two-dimensional torus $B=T^2$. Its ordinary cohomology is $H^0(M)=H^1(M)=\mathbb{Q}$, zero otherwise; Poincare duality for a manifold with boundary gives $H^2(M,B)=H^3(M,B)=\mathbb{Q}$ and all other relative groups zero. The lower-middle Deligne formula givesThus degrees one and two have different dimensions, so there can be no three-dimensional Poincare duality. In the dual-lower-chain convention the dimensions are $(1,1,0,1)$, which likewise fail duality. Both computations exhibit the obstruction $H^1(T^2)={\mathbb{Q}}^2\ne 0$.

The upper middle perversity is $\bar{n}(k)=\lceil (k-2)/2\rceil$. It differs from the lower middle perversity by one at odd codimensions, and is complementary to it.