Addition-deletion theorem for free hyperplane arrangements and combinatorics (Q2675052)

The author focuses on Terao's celebrated addition theorem for free arrangements showing that it is in fact combinatorial. Let \(V = \mathbb{K}^{\ell}\) and \(S = \mathbb{K}[x_{1}, \dots, x_{n}]\). We consider arrangements of linear hyperplanes \(\mathcal{A}\) in \(V\). For each hyperplane \(H \in \mathcal{A}\), we denote by \(\alpha_{H}\) a fixed linear form defining \(H\). The logarithmic derivation module \(D(\mathcal{A})\) of \(\mathcal{A}\) is defined by \[D(\mathcal{A}) = \{ \theta \in \mathrm{Der}(S) : \theta(\alpha_{H}) \in S\cdot \alpha_{H} \, \text{ for all } H \in \mathcal{A}\},\] where \(\mathrm{Der}(S) = \bigoplus_{i=1}^{\ell}S\cdot \partial_{x_{i}}\). Recall that \(D(\mathcal{A})\) is an \(S\)-graded reflexive module of rank \(\ell\), but not a free \(S\)-module in general. We say that \(\mathcal{A}\) is free with exponents \(\exp(\mathcal{A}) = (d_{1}, \dots, d_{\ell})\) if there is a homogeneous basis \(\theta_{1}, \dots, \theta_{\ell}\) for \(D(\mathcal{A})\) over \(S\) such that \(\deg \theta_{i} = d_{i}\) for all \(i\). Here we say that a non-zero derivation \(\theta \in \mathrm{Der}(S)\) is homogeneous of degree \(d\) if \(\theta(\alpha) \in S_{d}\) for all \(\alpha \in V^{*}\). Denote by \(L(\mathcal{A})\) the intersection lattice of \(\mathcal{A}\), now we define the localization \[\mathcal{A}_{X} := \{ H \in \mathcal{A} : X \subset H\}\] of \(\mathcal{A}\) at \(X \in L(\mathcal{A})\), and the restriction \[\mathcal{A}^{H} := \{ L \cap H : L \in \mathcal{A} \setminus \{H\}\}\] of \(\mathcal{A}\) onto \(H\), which is an arrangement in \(H \cong \mathbb{K}^{\ell-1}\). Moreover, for \(X \in L(\mathcal{A}^{H})\) one defines \[\mathcal{A}_{X}^{H} := (\mathcal{A}_{X})^{H} = (\mathcal{A}^{H})_{X}.\] Let \(H \in \mathcal{A}\) and \(Z(\mathcal{A}) = \bigcap_{H \in \mathcal{A}}H\). Denote by \(\chi(\mathcal{A};t)\) the characteristic polynomial of \(\mathcal{A}\). We say that \begin{itemize} \item[i)] \(\mathcal{A}\) is divisional along \(H\) if \(\chi(\mathcal{A}_{X}^{H};t)\mid \chi(\mathcal{A}_{X};t)\) for all \(X \in L(\mathcal{A}^{H})\). \item[ii)] \(\mathcal{A}\) is locally divisional along \(H\) if \(\chi(\mathcal{A}_{X}^{H};t) \mid \chi(\mathcal{A}_{X};t)\) for all \(X \in L(\mathcal{A}^{H}) \setminus \{Z(\mathcal{A}^{H})\}\), and \item[iii)] \(\mathcal{A}\) is globally divisional along \(H\) if \(\chi(\mathcal{A}^{H};t) \mid \chi(\mathcal{A};t)\). \end{itemize} The main result of the paper under review can be formulated as follows. Theorem A. Let \(H \in \mathcal{A}\), \(\mathcal{A}' :=\mathcal{A} \setminus \{H\}\), and \(\mathcal{A}^{H}:= \{ L \cap H : L \in \mathcal{A}'\}\). Then two of the following four imply the third and fourth: \begin{itemize} \item[i)] \(\mathcal{A}\) is free, \item[ii)] \(\mathcal{A}'\) is free, \item[iii)] \(\mathcal{A}^{H}\) is free and \(\mathcal{A}\) is globally divisional along \(H\), \item[iv)] \(\mathcal{A}\) is divisional along \(H\). \end{itemize} In particular, all the four above are true if iii) is true. Since the divisibility along \(H\) is combinatorial, the above result is combinatorial in its nature. Based on the above result, we have the following. Theorem B. For \(H \in \mathcal{A}\), let \(\mathcal{A}' := \mathcal{A}\setminus \{H\}\). Assume that \(\mathcal{A}'\) is free, then \(\mathcal{A}\) is free if and only if \(\mathcal{A}\) is divisional along \(H\). Hence when \(\mathcal{A}'\) is free, the freeness of \(\mathcal{A}\) depends only on \(L(\mathcal{A})\). Based on Theorem B, let us define the following class of free arrangements. We define the set \(\mathcal{AF}\) consisting of arrangements \(\mathcal{A}\) that has a filtration \[\emptyset = \mathcal{A}_{0} \subset \mathcal{A}_{1} \subset \dots \subset \mathcal{A}_{n} = \mathcal{A}\] such that each \(\mathcal{A}_{i}\) is divisional along \(H_{i}\) for \(\{H_{i}\} := \mathcal{A}_{i} \setminus \mathcal{A}_{i-1}\) for \(i = 1, \dots, n\). Such a filtration is called the additive filtration of \(\mathcal{A}\), and an arrangement \(\mathcal{A} \in \mathcal{AF}\) is called an additive free arrangement. Theorem C. \(\mathcal{A}\) is free if \(\mathcal{A} \in \mathcal{AF}\). In particular, Terao's conjecture is true in the class of additively free arrangements.