The height of a class in the cohomology ring of polygon spaces (Q2448820)

For a sequence \(\mathbf{r}=(r_1, r_2,\dots, r_n)\) of \(n\) positive real numbers, let \(\overline{M_{\mathbf{r}}}\) be the configuration space of planar polygonal linkages having side lengths \(r_i\) modulo the isometry group. The mod 2 cohomology ring of \(\overline{M_{\mathbf{r}}}\) was computed by \textit{J.-C. Hausmann} and \textit{A. Knutson} [Ann. Inst. Fourier 48, No. 1, 281--321 (1998; Zbl 0903.14019)] and has the form \[ H^*(\overline{M_{\mathbf{r}}}, \mathbb{Z}_2)=\frac{\mathbb{Z}_2[R_{\mathbf{r}}, V_1,\dots,V_{n-1}]}{I_{\mathbf{r}}} \] where \(I_\mathbf{r}\) is the ideal of relations and \(R_{\mathbf{r}}\) is the first Stiefel Whitney class of a regular 2-cover of \(\overline{M_{\mathbf{r}}}\). In the paper under review, the authors consider the case when \(\mathbf{r}=(1,1,\dots,1,r)\) where \(r\) is a positive real number and compute the height of the first Stiefel Whitney class for this \(\mathbf{r}\).