Addition-deletion results for the minimal degree of logarithmic derivations of hyperplane arrangements and maximal Tjurina line arrangements (Q2052825)

In the paper under review, the authors study addition-deletion results for the minimal degree of derivations associated with hyperplane arrangements with a special emphasize towards the so-called maximal Tjurina line arrangements. Let \(\mathbb{K}\) be a field of characteristic zero and consider the polynomial ring \(S = \mathbb{K}[x_{1}, ..., x_{\ell}]\) with the standard grading. Let \(X\) be a projective hypersurface in \(\mathbb{P}^{\ell-1}\) defined by a homogeneous polynomial \(f \in S_{d}\) of degree \(d\). We assume here that \(X\) is essential. Let \[\mathrm{Der} \, S := \bigoplus_{i=1}^{\ell} S \cdot \partial_{x_{i}}\] be the module of all derivations of \(S\). The logarithmic derivation module \(D(X)\) of the hypersurface \(X\) is defined by \[D(X):= \{\theta \in \mathrm{Der} \, S \, : \, \theta(f) \in (f)\},\] where \((f)\) denotes the ideal generated by \(f\) in \(S\). It is well-known that \(D(X)\) is an graded reflexive module, but not free in general. Consider the graded \(S\)-submodule \(D_{0}(X) = \{ \theta \in D(X) \, : \, \theta(f) = 0\}\) in \(D(X)\) and we have the following decomposition \(D(X) = D_{0}(X) \oplus S\cdot \theta_{E}\). If \(\theta = \sum_{i=1}^{\ell} a_{i}\partial_{x_{i}}\) with \(a_{i} \in S_{r}\) for some integer \(r\), the condition \(\theta(f)=0\) translates into the following homogeneous Jacobian relation, or Jacobian syzygy \[\sum_{i=1}^{\ell}a_{i}f_{x_{i}} = 0,\] involving the partial derivatives \(f_{x_{i}} = \partial_{x_{i}}f\) of the polynomial \(f\). In this way, the generators \(\theta_{j}\) for \(j>1\) are sometimes identified with Jacobian relations. Definition. The minimal degree of a Jacobian relation of \(X\), denoted by \(r(X)\) or \(\mathrm{mdr}(X)\), is defined by \[r(x) = \mathrm{min}_{r \in \mathbb{Z}}\{r \, : \, D_{0}(X)_{r} \neq 0\}.\] In other words, \(r(X)\) is exactly the initial degree of the graded \(S\)-module \(D_{0}(X)\). We say that \(X\) is free if \(D(X)\) is free. The paper under review is motivated by the following problem related to line arrangements in the plane. Conjecture A. Let \(\mathcal{A}\), \(\mathcal{B}\) be two line arrangements of \(d\) lines in the plane having isomorphic intersection lattices. If \(r(\mathcal{A}) < d/2\), then \(r(\mathcal{A}) = r(\mathcal{B})\). The above conjecture can be translated into more geometric way provided that \(\mathbb{K}=\mathbb{C}\). Let \(E(\mathcal{A})\) be the rank \(2\) vector bundle on \(\mathbb{P}^{2}\) naturally associated with the \(S\)-module \(D_{0}(\mathcal{A})\). For a generic line \(L\) in \(\mathbb{P}^{2}\), the restriction \(E(\mathcal{A})_{|L}\) splits as a direct sum \(\mathcal{O}_{L}(-e_{1}) \oplus \mathcal{O}_{L}(-e_{2})\). The pair is called the generic splitting type of the bundle \(E(\mathcal{A})\) and it is known that the two pairs \((e_{1},e_{2})\) and \((d, r(\mathcal{A}))\) determine each other when \(r(\mathcal{A}) < d/2\). When \(r(\mathcal{A}) \geq d/2\), then the generic splitting type \((e_{1},e_{2})\) is determined by \(d\) and the global Tjurina number \(\tau(\mathcal{A})\) which is determined in turn by the weak combinatorics of \(\mathcal{A}\) via the well-known formula \[\tau(\mathcal{A}) = \mu(\mathcal{A}) = \sum_{j\geq 2}n_{j}(j-1)^{2},\] where \(n_{j}\) denotes the number of \(j\)-fold points. Based on that, Conjecture A is equivalent to the following. Conjecture B. Let \(\mathcal{A}\) and \(\mathcal{B}\) be two line arrangements in the complex projective plane having isomorphic intersection lattices. Then the rank two vector bundles \(E(\mathcal{A})\) and \(E(\mathcal{B})\) have the same generic splitting type. It turns out, as the authors explained in the paper, that Conjecture B holds for line arrangements having only double and triple points. The main aim of the paper under review is to understand the dependence of the minimal degree \(r(\mathcal{A})\) of a Jacobian relation of a hyperplane arrangement \(\mathcal{A}\) and the combinatorics of \(\mathcal{A}\). In the first step, the authors study the invariant \(r(\mathcal{A})\) of a hyperplane arrangement \(\mathcal{A}\) under the addition or the deletion of a hyperplane \(H\). Let us briefly present the obtained results. Let \(\mathcal{A}\) be an essential hyperplane arrangement and for \(H \in \mathcal{A}\) we define the restriction \(\mathcal{A}^{H} :=\{ H \cap L \, : \, L \in \mathcal{A} \setminus\{H\}\}\). Proposition 1. Let \(\ell \geq 2\), \(H \in \mathcal{A}\), and \(\mathcal{A}' := \mathcal{A} \setminus \{H\}\). Then i) \(r(\mathcal{A}') \leq r(\mathcal{A}) \leq r(\mathcal{A}')+1\). ii) If \(|\mathcal{A}| - |\mathcal{A}^{H}| > r(\mathcal{A})\), then \(r(\mathcal{A}) = r(\mathcal{A}')\). iii) If \(|\mathcal{A}'| - |\mathcal{A}^{H}| > r(\mathcal{A}')\), then \(r(\mathcal{A}) = r(\mathcal{A}')\). Theorem 1. Let \(\ell\geq 2\), \(H \in \mathcal{A}\) and \(\mathcal{A}'=\mathcal{A} \setminus \{H\}\). Let \(r=r(\mathcal{A})\), \(r' = r(\mathcal{A}')\), and \(r'' = r(\mathcal{A}^{H})\). Then \(r=r'+1\) if \(r'<r''\). For line arrangements, the authors prove the following. Theorem 2. Let \(\ell=3\), \(H \in \mathcal{A}\) and \(\mathcal{A}' = \mathcal{A} \setminus \{H\}\). 1) Assume that \(\mathcal{A}\) is free with the exponents \(\mathrm{exp}(\mathcal{A}) = (1,d_{2},d_{3})\). Then \(r(\mathcal{A})=d_{2}-1\) if and only if \(|\mathcal{A}^{H}| = 1+d_{3}\). Otherwise \(r(\mathcal{A}')=d_{2}\). 2) Assume that \(\mathcal{A}'\) is free with \(\mathrm{exp}(\mathcal{A}') = (1,d_{2},d_{3})\). Then \(r(\mathcal{A}) = d_{2}+1\) if and only if \(|\mathcal{A}^{H}|\neq 1 + d_{2}\). Otherwise, \(r(\mathcal{A}) = d_{2}\). \vskip 0.5 cm In order to formulate main results from the last section, we need to deliver the following definition-theorem by du Plessis and Wall. Definition/Theorem. Let \(C: \, f=0\) be a reduced plane curve of degree \(d\) and let \(r =\mathrm{mdr}(C)\). Then the following hold. 1) If \(r <d/2\), then \(\tau(C) \leq \tau(d,r)_{\mathrm{max}} = (d-1)(d-r-1)+r^{2}\), and the equality holds if and only if the curve \(C\) is free. 1) If \(d/2 \leq r \leq d-1\), then \(\tau(C) \leq \tau(d,r)_{\mathrm{max}}=(d-1)(d-r-1)+r^{2} - \binom{2r-d+2}{2}\). The curve \(C : \, f=0\) is called the maximal Tjurina curve of type \((d,r)\) if one has the equality \(\tau(C) = \tau(d,r)_{\mathrm{max}}\). Theorem 3. Given a pair of positive integers \((d,r)\) such that \(d\geq 4\) and \[\frac{d}{2} \leq r \leq \frac{2}{3}(d-1),\] then there is a real line arrangement \(\mathcal{A}\) in \(\mathbb{P}^{2}\) which is Tjurina maximal of type \((d,r)\). The last main result of the paper under review is focusing on line arrangements with double and triple points. Theorem 4. Let \(\mathcal{A}\) be a line arrangement with \(d\geq 2\) lines having only \(n_{2}\) double and \(n_{3}\) triple intersection points. 1) If \(n_{3}=0\), then \(r(\mathcal{A})=d-2\). 2) If \(1 \leq n_{3} \leq 3\), then \(r(\mathcal{A}) = d-3\). 3) If \(n_{3}=4\), then \(r(\mathcal{A})=d-3\), unless any line of the arrangement \(\mathcal{A}\) passing through a triple point of \(\mathcal{A}\) contains an extra triple point of \(\mathcal{A}\). 4) If \(n_{3}=5\), then there are two possibilities. a) There is at least one triple point \(p\) in \(\mathcal{A}\) and a line \(L\) in \(\mathcal{A}\) passing through \(p\) and containing only \(p\) as a triple point. If the line arrangement \(\mathcal{A}' = \mathcal{A}\setminus L\) is obtained from \(A_{1}(6)\) simplicial arrangement by adding \(d-7\) generic lines, then \(r(\mathcal{A})=d-4\). Otherwise, we have \(r(\mathcal{A}) = d-3\). b) For any of the five triple points, the three lines meeting at this point contain each at least an extra triple point, and then \(r(\mathcal{A})=d-4\).