Complements of hyperplane arrangements as posets of spaces

Abstract

The complement of an arrangement A of a finite number of affine hyperplanes in complex n-space has the structure of a poset of spaces indexed by the intersection poset, L(A). The space corresponding to G in L(A) is homotopy equivalent to the complement of the hyperplanes in the central arrangement A_G normal to G. This poset of spaces structure can be used to repair a spectral sequence argument in two earlier papers of Davis, Januszkiewicz, Leary and Okun for computing certain cohomology groups of arrangement complements. Similarly, toric hyperplane arrangements have the structure of a diagram of spaces and this structure can be used fix a spectral sequence argument in an earlier paper of Davis and Settepanella.