The M-property of flag varieties (Q1192289)

The authors consider ``generic'' arrangements of high-dimensional Schubert cells in the real flag variety \(\mathbb{P} T^*\mathbb{P}^ n\) of all flags in \(\mathbb{P}^ n\) consisting of a hyperplane and a distinguished point in it. It is shown that the sum of the Betti numbers (with coefficients \(\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z})\) of those arrangements coincides with the sum of the Betti numbers of their complexifications \((M\)-property). In general, the \(M\)-property does not hold: an example is given, namely arrangements in \(G_{2,4}\). Finally, for some class of configuration spaces, the Mayer-Vietoris spectral sequence is shown to degenerate in the \(E_ 1\) term.