Homology graph of real arrangements and monodromy of Milnor fiber (Q2363309)

In the paper under review, the authors study the first homology group \(H_{1}(F,\mathbb{C})\) of the Milnor fiber \(F\) of the so-called sharp arrangements \(\overline{\mathcal{A}} \subset \mathbb{P}^{2}_{\mathbb{C}}\). Let us recall some notions. Let \(\overline{\mathcal{A}} \subset \mathbb{P}^{2}_{\mathbb{R}}\) be a projective arrangement, \(\mathcal{A} \subset \mathbb{R}^{2}\) be its deconing, and \(M(\mathcal{A}) = \mathbb{C}^{2} \setminus \bigcup_{H \in \mathcal{A}} H_{\mathbb{C}}\) be the complement of the complexified arrangement. The Milnor fiber \(F = Q^{-1}(1) \subset \mathbb{C}^{3}\) of \(\mathcal{A}\) is the smooth affine hypersurface defined as the preimage of \(1\) by the defining polynomial \(Q\) of \(\overline{\mathcal{A}}\). Now we consider the geometric monodromy action on \(F\), given by the multiplication by \(\lambda = \exp(2\pi \i / n+1)\), where \(n+1\) is the cardinality of \(\overline{\mathcal{A}}\). The automorphism induces the monodromy operators in homology \[ h_{q} : H_{q}(F, \mathbb{C}) \rightarrow H_{q}(F,\mathbb{C}). \] It is known that we have the following equivariant decomposition \[ H_{q}(F, \mathbb{C}) = \bigoplus_{d | n+1} \bigg[\mathbb{C}[t,t^{-1}]/\phi_{d} \bigg]^{\beta_{q,d}}, \] where each \(\beta_{q,d}\) is the multiplicity of an eigenvalue of \(h_{q}\) with order \(d\), and \(\phi_{d}\) is the cyclotomic polynomial of degree \(d\). The main aim of the paper is to try to understand how to compute effectively \(h_{q}\) for certain arrangements of lines -- as it was pointed out by the authors, the problem reduces to the case \(h_{1}\). In case no non-trivial eigenvalues appear, the arrangement \(\mathcal{A}\) is said to be \(a\)-monodromic. In order to present the results, we also need to define a special category of line arrangements, namely sharp arrangements. A sharp pair of a projective arrangement \(\overline{\mathcal{A}} \subset \mathbb{P}^{2}_{\mathbb{R}}\) is a couple of lines \((\overline{H}, \overline{H}')\) of \(\overline{A}\) such that all intersection points of lines in \(\overline{\mathcal{A}}\) lie on the union \(\overline{H} \cup \overline{H}'\), or are contained in one of the two regions of the projective plane \(\mathbb{P}^{2}_{\mathbb{R}}\) divided into two by \(\overline{H} \cup \overline{H}'\). We say that \(\mathcal{A}\) in \(\mathbb{R}^{2}\) is sharp arrangement if it is the deconing of an arrangement \(\overline{\mathcal{A}}\) in \(\mathbb{P}^{2}_{\mathbb{R}}\) with respect to the hyperplane at infinity \(H_{\infty}\), where \(H_{\infty} = \overline{H} \in \overline{\mathcal{A}}\) is a line in a sharp pair \((\overline{H},\overline{H}')\) of \(\overline{A}\). Now we can formulate the main four conjectures which lie in the scope of interest of the authors. Conjecture 1. Let \(\Gamma(\mathcal{A})\) be the graph defined by vertices \(H \in \mathcal{A}\) and edges \((H,H')\) if and only if \(H \cap H'\) is a point of multiplicity two. If \(\Gamma(\mathcal{A})\) is connected, then \(\mathcal{A}\) is \(a\)-monodromic. Conjecture 2. If \(\overline{A}\) has a sharp pair of lines and \(\mathcal{A}\) is not \(a\)-monodromic, then the eigenvalues of the monodromy operator \(h_{1}\) are cubic roots of unity. Conjecture 3. The only possible non-trivial monodromies of order prime powers have order \(3\) and \(4\). Conjecture 4. If \(\overline{\mathcal{A}}\) is a simplicial arrangement and \(\mathcal{A}\) is not \(a\)-monodromic, then the eigenvalues of the monodromy operator \(h_{1}\) are cubic roots of unity. The main two results of the paper, i.e., Theorem \(1.5\) and \(1.6\), tell us that sharp arrangements with some additional properties (in order to define these properly one requires to use a natural order for such arrangements, see the bottom of page 48 and the beginning of page 49 for details) are \(3\), \(4\), or \(a\)-monodromic. These results provide a partial answer to Conjecture 1. It is worth emphasizing that the algorithm described to prove the main theorems can be applied, more in general, to study \(a\)-monodromicity of \(\mathcal{A}\).