Restrictions of free arrangements and the division theorem (Q1707331)

In the present survey, the author reports on the so-called divison theorem and the modified Orlik's conjecture. Let \(\mathbb K\) be an arbitrary field and \(V = \mathbb K^\ell\). Denote by \(S=\mathbb K[x_1,\dots,x_\ell]\) the coordinate ring. We denote by \(\mathcal A\) a hyperplane arrangement, i.e., a finite collection of linear hyperplanes in \(V\). For \(H \in \mathcal A\) fix a linear form \(\alpha_H\in V^\ast\) such that \(\mathrm{Ker}(\alpha_H)=H\). For \(\mathrm{Der }S:= \oplus_{i=1}^\ell S \partial_{x_i}\) a logarithmic derivation module \(D(\mathcal A)\) of \(\mathcal A\) is defined by \[ D(\mathcal A):= \{ \theta \in \mathrm{Der }(S) : \theta(\alpha_H) \in S \alpha_H\text{ for all }H \in \mathcal A\}. \] We say that \(D(\mathcal A)\) is free with exponents \(\exp(\mathcal A)=(d_1,\dots,d_\ell)\) if there is a set of derivations \(\theta_1,\dots,\theta_\ell\in D(\mathcal A)\) such that \(D(\mathcal A)=\oplus_{i=1}^\ell S\theta_i\) and \(\deg(\theta_i(\beta_i))=d_i\) for some linear forms \(\beta_1,\dots, \beta_\ell\) such that \(\theta_i(\beta_i) \neq 0\). Denote by \(L(\mathcal A)\) the intersection lattice of \(\mathcal A\) and define \(L_i(\mathcal A):=\{X \in L(\mathcal A):\mathrm{codim}_VX=i\}\). A flag of \(\mathcal A\) is a set \(\{X_i\}_{i=0}^\ell\) such that \(X_0\subset\dots\subset X_\ell\) and \(X_i\in L_i(\mathcal A)\). Let us denote by \(\mu:L(\mathcal A) \rightarrow \mathbb Z\) the Möbius function. Now we can define the Poincaré polynomial \(\pi(\mathcal A;t)\) of \(\mathcal A\) as \[ \pi(\mathcal A; t):= \sum_{X \in L(\mathcal A)} \mu(X)(-t)^{\mathrm{codim}_VX}, \] and the characteristic polynomial \(\chi(\mathcal A;t)\) of \(\mathcal A\) is defined as \[ \chi(\mathcal A;t) = t^\ell\cdot \pi(\mathcal A,-t^{-1}). \] Let us recall that over the complex numbers the coefficients of the Poincaré polynomial correspond to the Betti numbers \(b_i(\mathcal A)\) of the complexified complement \(M(\mathcal A) = V \setminus \bigcup_{H \in \mathcal A} H\). Finally, we define the localization \(\mathcal A_X\) of \(\mathcal A\) at \(X \in L(\mathcal A)\) by \(\mathcal A_X :=\{H \in \mathcal A : X \subset H\}\), and the restriction \(\mathcal A^X\) of \(\mathcal A\) onto \(X\) is defined by \(\mathcal A^X :=\{H \cap X : H \in \mathcal A\setminus \mathcal A_X\}\). The key point of the survey is to present some results around the following striking result by the author, which is now called the division theorem. Theorem 1. \(\mathcal A\) is a free arrangement if \(\mathcal A^H\) and \(\chi(\mathcal A^H; t)\) divides \(\chi(\mathcal A;t)\) for some \(H \in \mathcal A\). The main problem formulated by the author is the so-called modified Orlik's conjecture. Problem 1. Let \(\mathcal A\) be an \(\ell\)-arrangement and \(H \in \mathcal A\). Assume that \(\mathcal A\) is free and \(\pi(\mathcal A^H;t)\) divides \(\pi(\mathcal A;t)\). Is then \(\mathcal A^H\) a free arrangement? The main result of the article is the following (under the assumption that \(\mathbb K = \mathbb C\)). Main Theorem. Assume that \(\mathcal A\) is free and \(b_2(\mathcal A)=b_2(\mathcal A^H) + (|\mathcal A| - |\mathcal A^H|)|\mathcal A^H|\), then \(\mathcal A^H\) is free if there is \(L \in \mathcal A \setminus H\) such that \(\mathcal A \setminus L\) is free and \(|\mathcal A_{L \cap H}| \geq 3\). It is worth emphasizing that the condition \(b_ 2(\mathcal A)=b_2(\mathcal A^H) + (|\mathcal A| - |\mathcal A^H|)|\mathcal A^H|\) holds when \(\chi(\mathcal A^H;t)\) divides \(\chi(\mathcal A;t)\). At the end of the survey, the author presents an interesting and new description of supersolvable arrangements. Definition-Proposition. \(\mathcal A\) is a supersolvable arrangement iff there is a flag \(\{X_i\}\) such that \[ b_2(\mathcal A) = \sum_{i=0}^{\ell-1}(|\mathcal A_{X_{i+1}}| -|\mathcal A_{X_i}|)|\mathcal A_{X_i}|. \] In this case, \(\mathcal A\) is free with exponents \(\exp(\mathcal A)=(|\mathcal A_{X_\ell}| - |\mathcal A_{X_{\ell - 1}}|,\dots,|\mathcal A_{X_2}| -|\mathcal A_{X_1}|, |\mathcal A_{X_1}|)\). For the entire collection see [Zbl 1387.17001].