Chow motive of Fulton-MacPherson configuration spaces and wonderful compactifications (Q1045750)

In a previous work [Mich. Math. J. 58, No. 2, 535--563 (2009; Zbl 1187.14060)], the author has defined and studied the wonderful compactification \(Y_{\mathcal{G}}\) of an arrangements of subvarieties, while here he studies the Chow group and the Chow Motive of such a variety. Let \(Y\) be a nonsingular quasi-projective variety over an algebraic closed field. An arrangement of subvarieties \(\mathcal{S}\) is a finite collection of nonsingular subvarieties such that all nonempty scheme-theoretic intersections of subvarieties in \(\mathcal{S}\) belongs to \(\mathcal{S}\). One can also define a building set \(\mathcal{G}\) of \(\mathcal{S}\); in particular, it is a subset of \(\mathcal{S}\) such that \(\mathcal{S}\) is the collection of all the possible intersections of subvarieties in \(\mathcal{G}\). Given any building set \(\mathcal{G}\), \(Y_{\mathcal{G}}\) is a nonsingular projective variety such that: i) there is a morphism \(p\) from \(Y_{\mathcal{G}}\) to \(Y\); ii) there is a nonsingular divisor \(D_{G}\) of \(Y_{\mathcal{G}}\) for each \(G\) in \(\mathcal{G}\); iii) \(p\) is an isomorphism between \(Y_{G}\setminus \bigcup_{\mathcal{G}}D_{G}\) and \(Y\setminus \bigcup_{\mathcal{G}}G\); iv) any set of these divisors meets transversally. A subsets \(\mathcal{T} \) of \(\mathcal{G}\) is a \(\mathcal{G}\)-nest if the intersection of the \(D_{G}\) with \(G\in \mathcal{T}\) is nonempty; they have also a more combinatoric description. Given a \(\mathcal{G}\)-nest \(\mathcal{T}\), the author define \(Y_{0}\mathcal{T}\in \mathcal{S}\) as the intersection of all the subvarieties in \(\mathcal{T}\). The variety \(Y_{G}\) generalizes the wonderful models of subspace arrangements defined by \textit{C. De Concini, C. Procesi} [Sel. Math., New Ser. 1, No.3, 459--494 (1995; Zbl 0842.14038)]. One of the most important examples of such a variety is the compactification \(X[n]\) of configuration spaces \(F(X,n)\) defined by \textit{W. Fulton} and \textit{R. MacPherson} [Ann. Math. (2) 139, No.1, 183--225 (1994; Zbl 0820.14037)]. Let \(X\) be a nonsingular variety, then \(F(X,n)\) is the following open subvariety of \(X^{n}\): \(\{(x_{1},\dots,x_{n}): \;x_{i}\neq x_{j} \;if \;i \neq j\}\). The variety \(X[n]\) is obtained by replacing the diagonal of \(X^{n}\) by simple normal crossing divisor. \(X[n]\) can be obtained as an \(Y_{G}\) by taking \(X^{n}\) as \(Y\) and defining \(\mathcal{G}\) as the set of all diagonals in \(X^{n}\). Moreover, the \(Y_{0}\mathcal{T}\), called polydiagonals, are isomorphic to cartesian powers of \(X\). In the two main results of this work the author describes the Chow group and the Chow Motive of \(Y_{\mathcal{G}}\) using the corresponding objects for \(Y\) and for the \(Y_{0}\mathcal{T}\), where \(\mathcal{T}\) is any \(\mathcal{G}\)-nest. The construction is done using the fact the \(Y_{G}\) can be obtained from \(Y\) through a succession of blow-ups along nonsingular subvarieties. Moreover, these subvarieties are indexed by \(\mathcal{G}\); indeed, roughly speaking, they are either the scheme-theoretic inverse image of an element of \(\mathcal{G}\) or the the strict transform of an element of \(\mathcal{G}\). The author proves also that the decomposition of the Chow Motive does not depend by the order along which are done the blow-ups. Moreover, such decomposition can be described explicitly using the Chern classes of some line bundles related to the \(D_{G}\). In a second time the authors specializes his results to the case of \(X[n]\). He obtains a more explicit description because, in this case, he can say more on the above Chern classes. Moreover, he obtains a formula for generating functions of Chow group and Chow Motive of \(X[n]\). Then he describes very explicitly the Chow Motive of \(X[n]\) with \(n\) at most 4. Finally he studies the Chow Motive of the quotient of \(X[n]\) by the symmetric group \(S_{n}\) in terms of the Chow Motive of cartesian products of symmetric products of \(X\). In this last result he suppose that the base field has characteristic zero.