The topology of arrangements of ideal type (Q2311440)

In this nicely written paper, the authors study the topology of the so-called arrangements of ideal type \(\mathcal{A}_{\mathcal{I}}\). Let \(\Phi\) be an irreducible reduced root system and let \(\Phi^{+}\) be the set of positive roots with respect to some set of simple roots \(\Pi\). An ideal of \(\Phi^{+}\) is a subset \(\mathcal{I}\) of \(\Phi^{+}\) satisfying the following condition that if \(\alpha \in \mathcal{I}\) and \(\beta \in \Phi^{+}\) are such that \(\alpha + \beta \in \Phi^{+}\), then \(\alpha + \beta \in \mathcal{I}\). Recall the standard partial order \(\preceq\) on \(\Phi\), \(\alpha \preceq \beta\) provided that \(\beta - \alpha\) is a \(\mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0}\)-linear combinatorion of positive roots or \(\beta = \alpha\). Finally, for \(\beta \in \Phi^{+}\), i.e., \(\beta = \sum_{\alpha \in \Pi} c_{\alpha} \alpha\) with \(c_{\alpha} \in \mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0}\), the height of \(\beta\) is defined to be \(\operatorname{ht}(\beta) = \sum_{\alpha \in \Pi} c_{\alpha}\). We can associate with an ideal \(\mathcal{I}\) in \(\Phi^{+}\) the arrangement consisting of all hyperplanes with respect to the roots in \(\mathcal{I}^{c} := \Phi^{+} \setminus \mathcal{I}\). Let \(\mathcal{A}(\Phi)\) be the Weyl arrangement of \(\Phi\), i.e., \(\mathcal{A}(\Phi) = \{ H_{\alpha} : \alpha \in \Phi^{+}\}\), where \(H_{\alpha}\) is the hyperplane orthogonal to the root \(\alpha\). Now we say that for an ideal \(\mathcal{I} \subseteq \Phi^{+}\) the arrangement of ideal type associated with \(\mathcal{I}\) is the subarrangement \(\mathcal{A}_{\mathcal{I}}\) of \(\mathcal{A}(\Phi)\) defined by \[ \mathcal{A}_{\mathcal{I}} = \{H_{\alpha} : \alpha \in \mathcal{I}^{c}\}. \] The main result of the paper tells us that certain arrangements of ideal type (satisfying an additional combinatorial condition presented below) are \(K(\pi,1)\)-arrangements, i.e., the complements of their complexifications are aspherical spaces. Let \(\Phi_{0}\) be a standard parabolic subsystem of \(\Phi\) and let \[ \Phi^{c}_{0} = \Phi^{+} \setminus \Phi^{+}_{0}, \] the set of positive roots in the ambient root system which do not lie in the smaller one. {Combinatorial condition}. Let \(\mathcal{I} \neq \emptyset\) be an ideal in \(\Phi^{+}\) and let \(\Phi_{0}\) be a maximal parabolic subsystem of \(\Phi\) such that \(\Phi_{0}^{c} \cap \mathcal{I}^{c} \neq \emptyset\). Assume that \(\Phi^{c}_{0} \cap \mathcal{I}^{c}\) is linearly ordered with respect to \(\preceq\) so that there is a unique root of every occuring height in \(\Phi^{c}_{0} \cap \mathcal{I}^{c}\) and for any \(\alpha \neq \beta\) in \(\Phi^{c}_{0} \cap \mathcal{I}^{c}\) there is a \(\gamma \in \Phi^{+}_{0}\) such that \(\alpha, \beta\) and \(\gamma\) are linearly dependent. {Theorem A}. Let \(\mathcal{I} \neq \emptyset\) be an ideal in \(\Phi^{+}\) and let \(\Phi_{0}\) be a maximal parabolic subsystem of \(\Phi\) such that the above combinatorial condition is satisfied. Then \(\mathcal{A}_{\mathcal{I}}\) is \(K(\pi, 1)\). {Theorem B}. For \(\phi\) of classical type and \(\mathcal{I}\) an ideal in \(\Phi^{+}\), we have that \(\mathcal{A}_{\mathcal{I}}\) is \(K(\pi,1)\).