Branched polymers and hyperplane arrangements (Q2391839)

The authors begin by generalizing the construction of connected branched polymers first studied by \textit{D. C. Brydges} and \textit{J. Z. Imbire} [Ann. Math. (2) 158, No. 3, 1019--1039 (2003; Zbl 1140.82314)] and \textit{R. Kenyon} and \textit{P. Winkler} [Am. Math. Mon. 116, No. 7, 612--628 (2009; Zbl 1229.82172)] to any central arrangement of hyperplanes. The main theorem of the paper gives a formula for the volume of the space of branched polymers in terms of the rank of the arrangement and its characteristic polynomial. The idea of branched polymers is then extended again to situations that do not require connectivity. The authors generalize the volume formula proved earlier to a notion of q-volume and show how the q-volume may be determined from the rank and characteristic polynomial of the central hyperplane arrangement. The authors conclude by showing that the space of branched polymers associated to a central arrangement is homotopy equivalent to the complement of the arrangement, thereby showing that the cohomology ring of the space of branched polymers is isomorphic to the Orlik-Solomon algebra of the arrangement.