Hyperplane arrangements and Lefschetz's hyperplane section theorem (Q2474619)

We see here a refined version of the affine Lefschetz hyperplane theorem in the special case of a real hyperplane arrangement. The affine Lefschetz theorem states that if \(g\in{\mathbb C}[x_1,\ldots,x_\ell]\) is a polynomial, \(M(g)=\{x\in{\mathbb C}^\ell \mid g(x)\neq 0\}\) and \(F\) is a generic affine hyperplane in \({\mathbb C}^\ell\), then \(M(g)\) has the homotopy type of \(M(g)\cap F\) with some \(\ell\)-cells attached. The refinement here is that one can say something about the attaching maps and about the boundary maps in the cellular chain complexes associated with a local system on~\(M(g)\). If \(M(g)=M({\mathcal A})\) arises from a real hyperplane arrangement \({\mathcal A}\) -- that is, if \(g\) is a product of real affine linear polynomials -- it is possible to exploit the decomposition of \(M({\mathcal A})\cap {\mathbb R}^\ell\) into chambers. That the topology of \(M({\mathcal A})\) is intimately related to the combinatorics of the chambers is well known. The connection is made more direct here by interpreting the chambers as stable manifolds for a suitable Morse function. There is an introduction and there are two preliminary sections, on hyperplane complements and on the Deligne groupoid and the Salvetti complex, which link the combinatorics with the topology of \(M({\mathcal A})\) and with local systems. Then there is a section reproving the Lefschetz theorem, following [\textit{H. A. Hamm} and \textit{Lê Dũng Tráng}, Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 6, 317--355 (1973; Zbl 0276.14003)], but in terms of Morse theory. That yields dual bases of \(H_\ell(M({\mathcal A}))\) and \(H^\ell(M({\mathcal A}))\) given by stable and unstable manifolds respectively. The last steps are to construct cells that satisfy those duality conditions and to use them to compute the boundary maps. The details of this computation also yield, in the case \(\ell=2\), a presentation of the fundamental group.