On combinatorial invariance of the cohomology of the Milnor fiber of arrangements and the Catalan equation over function fields (Q2906432)

An interesting problem in the theory of complex arrangements of lines in the projective plane is to determine which topological invariants of the complement depend only on the combinatorics of the arrangements. E.g., the cohomology of the complement is combinatorial, but the fundamental group is not. The paper under review targets the first homology of the associated Milnor fiber and the monodromy action on it. The first main result says that if two arrangements of lines with multiple points of multiplicity three and two are combinatorially equivalent, and if the monodromy of the first one has an eigenvalue different from one, then so does the monodromy of the second one too. This result follows from the following statement: In the case of an arrangement with double and triple points only, the monodromy acting on the first homology of the Milnor fiber has an eigenvalue different than one if and only if the arrangement is composed of a reduced pencil.NEWLINENEWLINEThe proof relies on the relation between the Alexander polynomial of the plane curve and the Mordell-Weil groups considered recently in [\textit{J. I. Cogolludo-Agustin} and \textit{A. Libgober}, ``Mordell-Weil groups of elliptic threefolds and the Alexander module of plane curves'', \url{arXiv:1008.2018}], and the Catalan equations over function fields.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 1242.14003].