Singular loci of reflection arrangements and the containment problem (Q2231154)

In the paper under review, the authors study the containment problem for certain ideals associated with singular loci of reflection arrangements of hyperplanes. Let \(r\geq 0\), we define the \(r\)-th symbolic power of a radical ideal \(I\) as \[ I^{(r)} = \bigcap_{P \in \mathrm{Ass}(R/I)} I^{r} R_{P} \cap R, \] where \(R = \mathbb{C}[x_{0},\dots, x_{n}]\), and by the Zariski-Nagata theorem the \(r\)-th symbolic power \(I^{(r)}\) is the ideal of all polynomials vanishing to order at least \(r\) on the variety defined by \(I\). The main aim of the paper under review is to understand the case when ideals \(I\) arise from the action of a complex reflection group. To be slightly more precise, any finite group \(G\) generated by pseudoreflections determines an arrangement \(\mathcal{A} = \mathcal{A}(G) \subset \mathbb{C}^{\mathrm{rank}\,(G)}\) of hyperplanes, each of which are fixed pointwise by one of the reflections in \(G\). The authors focus on symbolic powers of radical ideals \(J(\mathcal{A})\) defining the singular locus of reflection arrangement \(\mathcal{A}\). All of these ideals are equidimensional of codimension two. The first result of the paper under review is devoted to the challenging problem of classifying which singular loci of reflection arrangements satisfy the containment \(J(\mathcal{A})^{(3)} \subseteq J(\mathcal{A})^2\) and which do not. Theorem A. Let \(G\) be a finite complex reflection group with reflection arrangement \(\mathcal{A}\). Then \(J(\mathcal{A})^{(3)} \subseteq J(\mathcal{A})^{2}\) if and only if no irreducible factor of \(G\) is isomorphic to one of the following groups \[ G_{24}, G_{27}, G_{29}, G_{33}, G_{34}, \text{ or } G(m,m,n) \text{ with } m,n \geq 3, \] with the notation according to Shephard-Todd classification results. The second main result of the paper under review provides a new evidence for a stable version of Harbourne's conjecture. Theorem B. Let \(G\) be a finite complex reflection group with irreducible factors of rank three and corresponding reflection arrangement \(\mathcal{A}\). Then for all integers \(r\geq 3\) the containment \(J(\mathcal{A})^{(3)} \subseteq J(\mathcal{A})^{2}\) holds.