English

How to read the length of a braid from its curve diagram

Geometric Topology 2012-01-04 v4 Group Theory

Abstract

We prove that the Garside length a braid is equal to a winding-number type invariant of the curve diagram of the braid.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0904.0224,
  title  = {How to read the length of a braid from its curve diagram},
  author = {Bert Wiest},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.0224},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

Version 4: Proposition 3.1 of the previous version was wrong. In the current version, a similar statement is made, but only in the form of a conjecture. The main result of the paper is not affected by this mistake