Subspace arrangements over finite fields: Cohomological and enumerative aspects (Q1364917)

The authors develop the theory of arrangements of linear (affine) subspaces over finite fields. This development is achieved from the scratch without using earlier partial results by \textit{C. A. Athanasiadis} [Adv. Math. 122, No. 2, 193-233 (1996; Zbl 0872.52006)], \textit{M. Kim} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 120, No. 3, 697-703 (1994; Zbl 0816.14008) and Commun. Algebra 21, No. 4, 1337-1346 (1993; Zbl 0789.14016)], \textit{G. I. Lehrer} [Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 24, No. 1, 76-82 (1992; Zbl 0770.14013)] and \textit{Z. Yan} [The étale analog of Goresky-MacPherson formula for subspace arrangements, Preprint (1995)]. An arrangement of linear (affine) subspaces in projective (affine) \(n\)-space over a finite field is a collection of a finite number of linear (affine) subspaces. The set-theoretic union and the set-theoretic complement of the union can be seen as varieties defined over the finite field. These varieties are in general singular, which makes not all the general results on \(\ell\)-adic cohomology and zeta functions applicable. In particular, the authors are able to give a complete description of the eigenvalues of the Frobenius automorphism on the \(\ell\)-adic cohomology of the union and the complement which provides the complete factor structure of the zeta function. Here a Goresky-MacPherson type formula for \(\ell\)-adic cohomology is given, which is equivariant with respect to the action of the Frobenius. As a general result the authors prove that the zeta function of an algebraic variety over a finite field is always \(N\)-rational extending a result deduced by \textit{C. Reutenauer} [Adv. Appl. Math. 18, No. 1, 1-17 (1997; Zbl 0876.68068)] from the work of \textit{P. Deligne} [Inst. Haut. Étud. Sci., Publ. Math. 43(1973), 273-307 (1974; Zbl 0287.14001)]. Finally the results are applied to arrangements defined over the integers and arrangements whose intersection lattice is of special type.