Topology of arrangements and position of singularities (Q2450833)

This work contains an extended version of the course given by the author in `Arrangements in Pyrénées; School on hyperplane arrangements and related topics', held at Pau (France) in June 2012. The first part presents the computation of the fundamental group of the complement of a line arrangement. The following notions are involved: (Puiseux) braid monodromy, braid action on free groups, fibered arrangements, complexified real arrangements, wiring diagrams. The second part targets the twisted cohomologies and characteristic varieties of line arrangements. Two important aspects are emphasised: the role of the position of the singular points and the properties of the (essential) coordinate components. Several examples are listed.