Symmetric group actions on the cohomology of configurations in \(\mathbb R^d\). (Q991044)

Let \(C_n(d)\) denote the configuration space of \(n\) points in \(\mathbb R^d\). The symmetric group \(S_n\) acts on this space by permuting the coordinates, hence it acts on the cohomology algebra \(H^*(C_n(d);\mathbb C)\). The authors study these representations. The authors use the extended action from \(S_n\) to \(S_{n+1}\) to analyse these representations. A useful feature of this approach is that it gives precise formulas and allows to identify copies of the standard, sign and standard tensor sign representations in the graded algebra \(H^*(C_n(d);\mathbb C)\). The authors also provide a constructive proof of the well known facts that \(H^*(C_n(d);\mathbb C)\cong 2\text{Ind}_{S_2}^{S_n}1\) when \(d\) is even and that \(H^*(C_n(d);\mathbb C)\cong\mathbb CS_n\) when \(d\) is odd.