Restricting cohomology classes to disk and segment configuration spaces (Q2405060)

This paper is a compendium of interesting results and questions regarding configuration spaces of disks in a disk, and of segments in a disk. Let \(\mathrm{Conf}_{n,r}\) denote the space of ordered configurations of \(n\) points in \(D^2\) which can be the centers of disjoint disks of radius \(r\), and let \(\mathrm{Conf}_{n}\) denote the usual \(n\)-point ordered configuration space of \(D^2\). The motivating question is to understand how the topology of \(\mathrm{Conf}_{n,r}\) changes as \(r\) changes and \(n\) remains fixed. The general setting used is that of [\textit{Y. Baryshnikov} et al., Int. Math. Res. Not., No. 9, 2577--2592 (2014; Zbl 1315.55011)], where the authors introduce a Morse-theoretic framework and show that so-called \textit{balanced configurations} play the role of critical points. In particular, the homotopy type of \(\mathrm{Conf}_{n,r}\) can only change as \(r\) passes values for which a balanced configuration exists. The main results of the current paper are: Theorem 3: For any \(r > \frac{1}{n}\), the inclusion map \(i_{n,r} : \mathrm{Conf}_{n,r}\hookrightarrow \mathrm{Conf}_{n}\) has nonzero kernel in cohomology, hence is not a homotopy equivalence. This is proved using the description of the generators of the cohomology ring \(H^*(\mathrm{Conf}_{n})\) given by Arnol'd, as pullbacks of fundamental classes of tori under certain angle maps \(\alpha_G : \mathrm{Conf}_{n}\to (S^1)^{|E(G)|}\). Theorem 2: The least \(r\) for which \(\mathrm{Conf}_{n,r}\) has a balanced configuration is \(r = \frac{1}{n}\). The statement of Theorem 2 remains true in higher dimensions, and provides an analogue to the result of [loc. cit] where the authors give a similar threshold for the case of disks in a rectangular box. The paper includes many more conjectures and partial results concerning the thresholds for changing cohomology of \(\mathrm{Conf}_{n,r}\), which are too technical to state here. Let \(\mathrm{Seg}_{n,r}\) denote the configuration space of \(n\) disjoint, labelled, oriented segments in the disk \(D^2\). The author investigates for which values of \(n\) and \(r\) the segments can \textit{spin independently}, meaning that the obvious angle map \(\alpha_{n,r} : \mathrm{Seg}_{n,r}\to (S^1)^n\) admits a section. The author defines \(r_{\mathrm{crit}}(n)\) to be the supremal value of \(r\) such that \(\alpha_{n,r}^*\) of the fundamental class in \(H^*((S^1)^n)\) is nonzero (an obvious necessary condition for spinning independently) and conjectures that \(r_{\mathrm{crit}}(n)\sim\frac{1}{\sqrt{n}}\).