The \(\ell^2\)-cohomology of hyperplane complements (Q2472585)

Let \({\mathcal A}\) be an affine arrangement of hyperplanes in \(C^n\), let \(\Sigma({\mathcal A})\) be their union, and let \(M({\mathcal A})\) be the complement space. The rank of \({\mathcal A}\) is the maximum codimension \(l\) of any nonempty intersection of hyperplanes in \({\mathcal A}\). Since \(\Sigma({\mathcal A})\) is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of \((l-1)\)-spheres, the ordinary (reduced) homology of \(\Sigma({\mathcal A})\) vanishes except in dimension \(l-1\). Let \(\beta({\mathcal A})\) denote the rank of \(\bar H_{l-1}(\Sigma({\mathcal A}))\). Let \(X\) be a finite CW complex with universal cover \(\tilde X\). For each \(p \geq 0\), one can associate to \(X\) a Hilbert space \({\mathcal H}^p(\tilde X)\), the \(p\)-dimensional ``reduced \(\ell^2\)-cohomology.'' Each \({\mathcal H}^p(\tilde X)\) is a unitary \(\pi_1(X)\)-module. Using the \(\pi_1(X)\)-action, one can attach a nonnegative real number called the ``von Neumann dimension'' to such a Hilbert space. The ``dimension'' of \({\mathcal H}^p(\tilde X)\) is called the \(p^{th}\) \(\ell^2\)-Betti number of \(X\). The authors main result is: Theorem. Suppose \({\mathcal A}\) is an affine hyperplane arrangement of rank \(l\). Only the \(l^{th}\) \(\ell^2\)-Betti number of \(M({\mathcal A})\) can be nonzero and it is equal to \(\beta({\mathcal A})\).