Projection volumes of hyperplane arrangements (Q644815)

The authors prove a conjecture of Drton and Klivans that for any finite real hyperplane arrangement the projection volumes are given by the coefficients of its characteristic polynomial. For their proof they show the stronger theorem that for any finite real hyperplane arrangement the average projection volumes of the maximal cones are given by the coefficients of its characteristic polynomial. The authors use zonotopes to link projection volumes of regions of hyperplane arrangements and coefficients of characteristic polynomials. To prove the main conclusion they adopt two results from the literature: Zaslosky describes the number of faces of zonotopes in terms of the Moebius function of the set of all nonempty intersections of collections of its hyperplanes. Perles and Shephard illustrate a relation between the number of faces of zonotopes and its angle sums. Furthermore the authors are able to show that the angle sums of a zonotope are given by the characteristic polynomial of the order dual of the intersections of collections of the hyperplanes in the arrangement.