Rational homology of spaces of complex monic polynomials with multiple roots

Abstract

We study rational homology groups of one-point compactifications of spaces of complex monic polynomials with multiple roots. These spaces are indexed by number partitions. A standard reformulation in terms of quotients of orbit arrangements reduces the problem to studying certain triangulated spaces $X_{\lambda,\mu}$. We present a combinatorial description of the cell structure of $X_{\lambda,\mu}$ using the language of marked forests. As applications we obtain a new proof of a theorem of Arnold and a counterexample to a conjecture of Sundaram and Welker, along with a few other smaller results.