Deformations of Coxeter hyperplane arrangements and their characteristic polynomials

Abstract

Let A be a Coxeter hyperplane arrangement, that is the arrangement of reflecting hyperplanes of an irreducible finite Coxeter group. A deformation of A is an affine arrangement each of whose hyperplanes is parallel to some hyperplane of A. We survey some of the interesting combinatorics of classes of such arrangements, reflected in their characteristic polynomials.