Hyperplane arrangements. An introduction (Q521892)

In the book under review, the author provides an interesting introduction to the theory of hyperplane arrangements. This theory is a very active and attractive area of research, combining ideas from different branches of modern mathematics including algebraic geometry, algebraic topology, combinatorics, commutative algebra, theory of singularities, etc. The first question that one might ask is about interesting line arrangements in the real projective plane having some extreme properties, for instance the maximal number of triple intersection points (i.e., points where exactly \(3\) lines from the arrangement meet), or what is the number of bounded regions cut off by a given arrangement, and how to compute this number using only the combinatorial data of the arrangement. On the other hand, one can also ask about the topology of the complements of complex line arrangements and whether some topological properties are described by the combinatorics. This is only a fractional part of possible questions that one can ask and usually these problems are very easy to formulate. On the other side, it is really tough to find the answers on them, and really often one needs to use a bunch of different techniques to attack these problems successfully. It seems that the multidisciplinarity of the theory of hyperplane arrangements is a real magnet which attracts mathematicians from different branches. The main idea behind this book is to deliver enjoyable introduction to the theory presenting both classical aspects of the theory and very recent developments. It is worth pointing out that the text is accessible even for advanced undergraduate students (especially the first three chapters) and motivating since the book focuses on current research problems and provides some open problems. Now I would like to present (only shortly) the content of the book. In the first chapter, the author provides a short and general introduction to the subject focusing on the interplay between combinatorics, geometry, and topology. This includes Robert's formulae on the number of regions given by a line arrangements in \(\mathbb{R}^{2}\), and Melchior's Inequality on the number of the intersection points of an essential line arrangement in the real projective plane. In the second chapter, the author provides basics on hyperplane arrangements and their combinatorics, introducing intersection lattices, the Möbius function, and the key objects of studies, namely the characteristic polynomial and the Poincaré polynomial of a given arrangement. In the next sections, the author delivers the so-called Deletion-Restriction Theorem and he introduces several classes of hyperplane arrangements, namely supersolvable, graphical (given by graphs), and reflection arrangements. One of the main results of this chapter states the factorization property of the Poincaré polynomial for supersolvable arrangements. In the third chapter, the author introduces the notion of Orlik-Solomon algebras associated to line arrangements, and he provides a fundamental result which tells us that these algebras are isomorphic to the cohomology algebras of the complements of complex hyperplane arrangements. The fourth chapter is devoted to the topology of the complements of complex line arrangements. This includes considerations about the minimality of complements, the fundamental groups of complements, and arrangements whose complements are the so-called \(K(\pi, 1)\)-spaces. In the spirit of \(K(\pi,1)\)-spaces, the author recalls Deligne's result which says that real simplicial hyperplane arrangements give rise to the mentioned spaces. Another interesting result tells us that a central arrangement is supersolvable iff it is of a fiber type (please consult Definition 4.4). However, the main role in this chapter plays a beautiful result due to \textit{J. Huh} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 25, No. 3, 907--927 (2012; Zbl 1243.14005)] which tells us that the coefficients of the Poincaré polynomial of a given arrangements have the log-concavity property, which means that the Betti numbers of the complement of the arrangement form a log-concave sequence. In Chapter 5, the author introduces the notion of Milnor fibers associated to central arrangements and he discusses about the monodromy action on the cohomology of Milnor fibers. The main result of this chapter is Theorem 5.3 which is a very general vanishing result on the twiseted cohomology of the complement of a given hyperplane arrangement with coefficients in a rank one local system -- this result comes from [\textit{D. Cohen} et al., Ann. Inst. Fourier 53, No. 6, 1883--1896 (2003; Zbl 1054.32016)]. In Chapter 6, the author introduces the notion of characteristic varieties and resonance varieties. The main result of this chapter is the Tangent Cone Theorem for complements -- see Theorem 6.1. Next, the author discusses the relation between the characteristic varieties and the homology of finite abelian covers, which leads to the polynomial periodicity properties of the first Betti numbers of such covers -- this is provided by Theorem 6.3, and this also applies to smooth surfaces obtained as the minimal desingularizations of Hirzebruch-Kummer covers of \(\mathbb{P}^{2}\) branched along line arrangements -- see Theorem 6.4. In Section 6.4, the author focuses on the so-called deleted \(B_{3}\)-line arrangement providing in great detail a complete discussion about the characteristic varieties of this arrangement and the so-called translated components -- see Definition 6.5. In Chapter 7, the author focuses on logarithmic connections and mixed Hodge structures related to hyperplane arrangements. The first result is a new version of the Tangent Cone Theorem in the setting of logarithmic connections. After that, the author discusses the mixed Hodge structures on the cohomology of the hyperplane complements and of the Milnor fibers. After defining the spectrum \(\mathrm{Sp}(Q)\) of a given configuration (see Formulae (7.7), page 135 therein), the author presents a fundamental result due to \textit{N. Budur} and \textit{M. Saito} [Math. Ann. 347, No. 3, 545--579 (2010; Zbl 1195.14070)] which tells us that the spectrum of a central hyperplane arrangement is determined by the intersection lattice. Next, the author studies the so-called polynomial count varieties, which roughly means that for a variety \(Y\) defined over \(\mathbb{Q}\) there exists a polynomial \(P_{Y} \in \mathbb{Z}[t]\) such that for all except finitely many primes \(p\) and for any field \(\mathbb{F}_{q}\) with \(q = p^{s}\), the number of points of \(Y\) over \(\mathbb{F}_{q}\) is given by \(P_{Y}(q)\). The first result into this direction tells us that for a hyperplane arrangement in \(\mathbb{C}^{n}\) defined over \(\mathbb{Q}\), which means that the equations of these hyperplanes can be written as linear equations with \textit{integral} coefficients, the complement has polynomial count given by the characteristic polynomial of the arrangement. It is extremely interesting that the property of polynomial count is related to Hodge theoretical properties -- the property of being cohomologically Tate (see page 141 therein). Relations between being cohomologically Tate, having polynomial count, and the triviality of the monodromy action on all the cohomology groups, when our variety \(Y\) is the Milnor fiber, are discussed in Theorem 7.10, and Propositions 7.6 and 7.8. In the last part of this chapter, the author studies the relation between the polynomial count property and compactly supported Deligne-Hodge polynomials, especially focusing on the case of line arrangements having only double and triple points. In the last chapter of the book, the author focuses on the freeness, de Rham cohomology of Milnor fibers, and Alexander polynomials. Firstly, the author discusses the notion of freeness for reduced projective hypersurfaces emphasizing the relation with the Jacobian syzygy of the defining equations. The main result of the first part of this chapter is the famous Saito's freeness criterion (in a general setting, not only for hyperplane arrangements). After that, the author studies different classes of hyperplane arrangements which are free, for instance reflection arrangements and supersolvable arrangements. Next, the author recalls a beautiful result due to \textit{H. Terao} [Invent. Math. 63, 159--179 (1981; Zbl 0437.51002)] which tells us that for free hyperplane arrangements the Poincaré polynomial splits into linear factors over the integers and the splitting type of this polynomial corresponds to the sequence of exponents. This also means that the exponents of free arrangements are combinatorially determined by the intersection lattices. In the second part, the author studies the notion of freeness for reduced curves and line arrangements in \(\mathbb{P}^{2}\), especially in the context of Terao's conjecture [\textit{P. Orlik} and \textit{H. Terao}, Arrangements of hyperplanes. Berlin: Springer-Verlag (1992; Zbl 0757.55001)]. Let us recall that Terao's conjecture predicts that the freeness is combinatorial in nature, which means that if we have two line arrangements \(\mathcal{L}\) and \(\mathcal{L}'\) in the complex projective plane such that their Levi graphs are isomorphic and \(\mathcal{L}\) is free, then \(\mathcal{L}'\) is also free. For instance, Proposition 8.3 gives us some constraints on possible exponents and the maximal multiplicity of the intersection points of free line arrangements which satisfy Terao's conjecture. In the third section, the author discusses a spectral sequence approach to the computation of the Alexander polynomial for a plane curve. The main point of this section is the algorithm which allows to compute the Alexander polynomial for a free plane curve having weighted homogeneous singularities relatively fast -- a general case is also considered. The last section is devoted to explicitly computed examples of bases for some eigenspaces of the monodromy actions on \(H^{1}(F)\) for the Milnor Fibers of monomial line arrangements (or CEVA arrangements) in the complex projective plane. It is also worth pointing out that the author provides, after each chapter, a series of nice exercises where the role of classical line arrangements is emphasized. I think that this is an engaging reading which is written in a nice way. Of course, one can find some grammar flaws, there are some small inaccuracies (like in the first chapter where the author is actually discussing the dual Sylvester-Gallai property), and there are some places written slightly chaotic (like Theorem 4.6). However, it does not change the fact that this is a very nice introduction to the subject.