The cohomology ring away from 2 of configuration spaces on real projective spaces (Q500945)

For a space \(X\) and an integer \(k\geq 1\), let \(\text{Conf}(X.k)\) denote the ordered configuration space of \(k\) distinct points in \(X\) given by \(\text{Conf}(X,k)=\{(x_1,\cdots ,x_k)\in X^k:x_i\not= x_j\text{ if }i\not= j\}\), and let \(R\) be a commutative ring with unit where \(2\) is invertible. Let \({\mathbb R}\text{P}^m\) (or \({\mathbb R}\text{P}^m\setminus\{*\}\)) be the \(m\) dimensional real projective space (resp., the punctured one). In this paper, the authors compute the cohomology ring \(H^*(\text{Conf}(X),R)\) explicitly for \(X={\mathbb R}\text{P}^m\) or \(X={\mathbb R}\text{P}^m\setminus\{*\}\). Their method is based on the fact that the orbit configuration space of \(k\) ordered points in \(S^m\) (with respect to the antipodal action) is a \(2^k\)-fold covering of \(\text{Conf}({\mathbb R}\text{P}^m,k)\subset ({\mathbb R}\text{P}^m)^k\). More precisely, they obtain the result for the case \(X={\mathbb R}\text{P}^m\) by proving that, if \(m\) is an odd integer then the Leray spectral sequence for the inclusion \({\mathbb R}\text{P}^m\subset ({\mathbb R}\text{P}^m)^k\) collapses after its first non-trivial differential, just as it does when \({\mathbb R}\text{P}^m\) is replaced by a complex projective variety. They prove the result for the case \(X={\mathbb R}\text{P}^m\setminus\{*\}\) analogously. As an application, they also obtain the very interesting result that two spaces \(\text{Conf}({\mathbb R}\text{P}^n,k)\) and \(\text{Conf}({\mathbb R}\text{P}^{n+1}\setminus\{*\},k)\) cannot even be stably homotopy equivalent, although there is a homotopy equivalence \({\mathbb R}\text{P}^{n}\simeq {\mathbb R}\text{P}^{n+1}\setminus\{*\}\).