The diffeomorphism type of small hyperplane arrangements is combinatorially determined (Q1737111)

Let $\mathcal{A} = \{H_{1}, \dots, H_{m}\}$ be a central hyperplane arrangement in $\mathbb{C}^{d}$, and denote by $M(\mathcal{A})$ its complement in $\mathbb{C}^{d}$. For every arrangement $\mathcal{A} = \{H_{1}, \dots, H_{m}\}$ we assign a rank to each subset $S \subset \{1, \dots, m\}$ by \[ \text{rk}_{\mathcal{A}}(S) = \text{codim} \bigcap_{i\in S} H_{i}. \] We say that two arrangements $\mathcal{A}$ and $\mathcal{B}$ have the same combinatorial type if $\text{rk}_{\mathcal{A}}$ and $\text{rk}_{\mathcal{B}}$ coincide. Given an open interval $(a,b) \subset \mathbb{R}$, a smooth one parameter family is a collection of arrangements $\{\mathcal{A}_{t}\}_{t \in(a,b)}$ of arrangements $\mathcal{A}_{t} = \{ H_{1}(t), \dots, H_{m}(t)\}$ in $\mathbb{C}^{d}$ such that there exist smooth functions from $(a, b)$ to $\mathbb{C}$ for the coefficients of the defining equations of the subspaces $H_{i}(t)$. A smooth one-parameter family of arrangements $\mathcal{A}_{t}$ is an isotopy if for any $t_1$ and $t_2$ the arrangements $\mathcal{A}_{t_{1}}$ and $\mathcal{A}_{t_{2}}$ have the same combinatorial type. In this case we say that $A_{t_{1}}$ and $\mathcal{A}_{t_{2}}$ are isotopic. We know, by a result due to Randell, that if $\mathcal{A}_{t_{1}}$ and $\mathcal{A}_{t_{2}}$ are isotopic arrangements, then the complements $M(\mathcal{A}_{t_{1}})$ and $M(\mathcal{A}_{t_{2}})$ are diffeomorphic. \par The main result of this paper can be formulated as follows. \par Main Result. Let $\mathcal{A} = \{H_{1},\dots, H_{m}\}$ and $B = \{K_{1}, \dots, K_{m}\}$ be two central essential hyperplane arrangements in $\mathbb{C}^d$ having the same combinatorial type. If $m \leq 7$, then $\mathcal{A}$ and $\mathcal{B}$ are isotopic arrangements. \par This implies, in particular, that the complements $M(\mathcal{A})$ and $M(\mathcal{B})$ are diffeomorphic.