Branched polymers and hyperplane arrangements

DOI10.1007/S00454-013-9499-8MaRDI QIDQ2391839zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Karola Mészáros, Alexander Postnikov

Publication date 5 August 2013

Published in Discrete \& Computational Geometry (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0909.4547

zbMATH Keywords

braid arrangementbranched polymerscharacteristic polynomialhyperplane arrangementOrlik-Solomon algebrapolymers

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Configurations and arrangements of linear subspaces (14N20) Arrangements of points, flats, hyperplanes (aspects of discrete geometry) (52C35)

Abstract: We generalize the construction of connected branched polymers and the notion of the volume of the space of connected branched polymers studied by Brydges and Imbrie, and Kenyon and Winkler to any hyperplane arrangement A. The volume of the resulting configuration space of connected branched polymers associated to the hyperplane arrangement A is expressed through the value of the characteristic polynomial of A at 0. We give a more general definition of the space of branched polymers, where we do not require connectivity, and introduce the notion of q-volume for it, which is expressed through the value of the characteristic polynomial of A at -q. Finally, we relate the volume of the space of branched polymers to broken circuits and show that the cohomology ring of the space of branched polymers is isomorphic to the Orlik-Solomon algebra.

Review text

The authors begin by generalizing the construction of connected branched polymers first studied by \textit{D. C. Brydges} and \textit{J. Z. Imbire} [Ann. Math. (2) 158, No. 3, 1019--1039 (2003; Zbl 1140.82314)] and \textit{R. Kenyon} and \textit{P. Winkler} [Am. Math. Mon. 116, No. 7, 612--628 (2009; Zbl 1229.82172)] to any central arrangement of hyperplanes. The main theorem of the paper gives a formula for the volume of the space of branched polymers in terms of the rank of the arrangement and its characteristic polynomial. The idea of branched polymers is then extended again to situations that do not require connectivity. The authors generalize the volume formula proved earlier to a notion of q-volume and show how the q-volume may be determined from the rank and characteristic polynomial of the central hyperplane arrangement. The authors conclude by showing that the space of branched polymers associated to a central arrangement is homotopy equivalent to the complement of the arrangement, thereby showing that the cohomology ring of the space of branched polymers is isomorphic to the Orlik-Solomon algebra of the arrangement.

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• Branched polymers
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• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 4190548
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Cites work

• An introduction to hyperplane arrangements
• Branched polymers
• Branched polymers and dimensional reduction
• Combinatorics and topology of complements of hyperplanes
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1179517 (Why is no real title available?)

Cited in

(4)

• The number and size of branched polymers in high dimensions
• Branched polymers and percolation
• Branched polymers
• Dimensional reduction for generalized continuum polymers

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