*complex of nearby cycles* on $Y = \{f=0\}$, which was the inspiration for Verdier [@Ver] to define monodromy eigenvalues for an ideal by introducing the notion of the *specialization complex*. We explain these constructions very briefly; for more details, we refer to [@Di] and [@VV]. For a scheme $Z$, we denote by $D^b_c(Z)$ the full subcategory of the derived category $D(Z)$ consisting of complexes of sheaves of ${\mathbb C}$-vector spaces with bounded and constructible cohomology, and by ${\mathbb C}^{\boldsymbol\cdot} \in D^b_c(Z)$ the complex concentrated in degree zero induced by the constant sheaf ${\mathbb C}_Z$ on $Z$. With ${\mathbb C}^{\boldsymbol\cdot} \in D^b_c({\mathbb C}^{n+1})$, one can associate the *complex of nearby cycles* $\psi_f({\mathbb C}^{\boldsymbol{\cdot}}) \in D^b_c(Y)$ having the property that, for each $k\geq 0$ and $y \in Y$, the stalk $\mathcal H^k(\psi_f{\mathbb C}^{\boldsymbol{\cdot}})_y$ of its $k$th cohomology sheaf is isomorphic to $H^k(F_y,{\mathbb C})$, the $k$th cohomology of the Milnor fiber of $f$ at $y$. Furthermore, for every $y \in Y$, there exists a monodromy transformation $\tilde{M}^k_y: \mathcal H^k(\psi_f{\mathbb C}^{\boldsymbol{\cdot}})_y \rightarrow \mathcal H^k(\psi_f{\mathbb C}^{\boldsymbol{\cdot}})_y$ that corresponds to the automorphism $M^k_y$ on $H^k(F_y,{\mathbb C})$ under this isomorphism. In other words, the monodromy eigenvalues of $f$ can be defined as the eigenvalues of these operators 