Logarithmic derivations associated to line arrangements (Q2029201)

The authors study logarithmic derivations associated to line arrangements. Let \(\mathcal{A} = \{H_{1}, \dots, H_{s}\} \subset \mathbb{K}^{n}\) be a central hyperplane arrangement, where \(\mathbb{K}\) is a field of characteristic zero. We fix linear forms \(\ell_{1},\dots, \ell_{s} \in S:=\mathbb{K}[x_{1}, \dots, x_{n}]\) such that \(H_{i} = \ker(\ell_{i})\). The module of the derivations of \(S\) has the structure \(\mathrm{Der}(S) = \bigoplus_{i=1}^{n} S\cdot \partial_{x_{i}}\), so it is free of rank \(n\). A logarithmic derivation of \(\mathcal{A}\) is an element \(\theta \in\mathrm{Der}(S)\) such that \(\theta(\ell_{i}) \in \langle \ell_{i} \rangle\) for all \(i=1,\dots, s\). The set of all logarithmic derivations creates an \(S\)-module, which is denoted usually by \(D(\mathcal{A})\). Consider now \(F :=\prod_{i=1}^{s} \ell_{i}\), the defining polynomial of \(\mathcal{A}\). Since \(F\) is homogeneous, we have the following decomposition: \[ D(\mathcal{A}) =\mathrm{Syz}(J_{F}) \oplus S \cdot \theta_{E}, \] where \(\mathrm{Syz}(J_{F})\) is the first module of the syzygies on the Jacobian ideal of \(F\) and \(\theta_{E}\) is the Euler derivation. In general, when \(\mathrm{Syz}(J_{F})\) is free, we say that \(\mathcal{A}\) is free. Let us also recall that the minimal degree of a Jacobian relation, which is the minimal degree of a syzygy of \(J_{F}\), is formally defined as \[ r(\mathcal{A}) = \mathrm{mdr}(\mathcal{A}) := \min_{r\in \mathbb{Z}} \{r:\mathrm{Syz}(J_{F})_{r} \neq 0\}. \] Finding degrees of syzygies is one of the most fundamental topics in commutative/homological algebra, and the same is true if we restrict our attention to syzygies of Jacobian ideals of arrangements. The main result of the paper under review is a complete classification of line arrangements in \(\mathbb{P}(\mathbb{K}^{3}) = \mathbb{P}^{2}\) for which \(r(\mathcal{A}) = 3\), and this result is presented as Theorem 2.6 therein. This classification presents defining polynomials of the arrangements, up to a change of variables, with the corresponding affine pictures. The authors also analyze the shape of such a logarithmic derivation, towards obtaining criteria for a line arrangement to possess a cubic minimal logarithmic derivation.