Massey products and \(k\)-equal manifolds (Q2883874)

A \(k\)-equal manifold is formed by all the points in a given \(l\)-dimensional complex vector space that have at least \((l-k)+2\) distinct coordinates. It is interesting to establish which \(k\)-equal manifolds are rationally formal, to which end this paper exhibits some non-trivial Massey products in \(k\)-equal manifolds. If there are non-trivial Massey products then the \(k\)-equal manifold cannot be rationally formal. Although the converse does not hold, some information about formality can be deduced from vanishing Massey products, and the authors are able to use this to prove that a \(k\)-equal manifold in an \(l\)-dimensional space is rationally formal if \(6k-9 > l+\lfloor l/k \rfloor (k-2)\).