Cohomology rings and nilpotent quotients of real and complex arrangements

Abstract

For an arrangement with complement X and fundamental group G, we relate the truncated cohomology ring, H^{<=2}(X), to the second nilpotent quotient, G/G_3. We define invariants of G/G_3 by counting normal subgroups of a fixed prime index p, according to their abelianization. We show how to compute this distribution from the resonance varieties of the Orlik-Solomon algebra mod p. As an application, we establish the cohomology classification of 2-arrangements of n<=6 planes in R^4.