On the Falk invariant of Shi and linial arrangements (Q2046451)

In the paper under review the authors provide a combinatorial formula for the third Falk invariant associated with a hyperplane arrangement. Let \(\mathcal{A} = \{H_{1}, \dots, H_{n}\} \subset \mathbb{C}^{l}\) be a finite central arrangement of hyperplanes and let \(E^{1} = \bigoplus_{i=1}^{n} \mathbb{C}e_{i}\) be the free module generated by \(e_{i}\)'s symbols, where \(e_{i}\) coresponds to the hyperplane \(H_{i}\). Denote by \(E:=\bigwedge E^{1}\) be the graded exterior algebra over \(\mathbb{C}\). The graded algebra \(E\) is commutative differential graded algebra with respect to the differential \(\partial\) of degree \(-1\) which is uniquely determined by the condition \(\partial \, e_{i} = 1\) for all \(i \in \{1, \dots, n\}\). Denote by \(I = I(\mathcal{A})\) the Orlik-Solomon ideal generated by \(\{ \partial\, e_{S} : S \text{ is dependent}\}\), where a subet \(S\) is dependent if the set of polynomials \(\{\alpha_{i} : i \in S\}\) with \(H_{i} = \alpha^{-1}_{i}(0)\) is linearly independent. The algebra \(A = E / I(\mathcal{A})\) is called the Orlik-Solomon algebra of \(\mathcal{A}\). Since the algebra \(A\) is graded, we can write \(A = \bigoplus_{p \geq 0} A^{p}\), where \(A^{p} = E^{p}/I^{p}\) with \(E^{p} = \bigwedge^{p}E^{1}\). Let \(I_{k}\) be the \(k\)-adic Orlik-Solomon ideal of \(\mathcal{A}\) which is generated by \(\sum_{j\leq k} I^{j}\), and we write \(A^{p}_{k} = E^{p} / (I_{k})^{p}\) for the \(k\)-adic Orlik-Solomon algebra. Now we can define the main object of studies in that paper. Consider the map \(d\) defined by \[ d : E^{1} \otimes I^{2} \rightarrow E^{3}, \quad d(a\otimes b) = a \wedge b. \] Then the third Falk invariant is defined as \(\phi_{3} := \dim \ker d\). A remarkable result due to Falk allows us to compute this invariant for hyperplane arrangements. Theorem (Falk). Let \(\mathcal{A} = \{H_{1}, \dots, H_{n}\}\) be a central hyperplane arrangement in \(\mathbb{C}^{l}\), then \[\phi_{3} = 2\cdot \binom{n+1}{3} -n \cdot w_{2}(\mathcal{A}) + \dim A_{2}^{3},\] where \(w_{2}(\mathcal{A})\) denotes the second Whitney number of \(\mathcal{A}\). In the paper under review the authors focus on a very specific class of hyperplane arrangements, namely canonical complete lift representations of biased graphs. More precisely, the authors provide a combinatorial formula for the third Falk invariant for hyperplane arrangements which are canonical complete lifts of a biased graph without loops in which there are at most double parallel edges. This formula is based on counting special types of subgraphs, see Theorem \(5.1\) therein.