English

On the non-realizability of braid groups by homeomorphisms

Geometric Topology 2020-01-08 v2

Abstract

In this paper, we will show that the projection Homeo+(Dn2)Bn\text{Homeo}^+(D^2_n)\to B_n does not have a section; i.e. the braid group BnB_n cannot be geometrically realized as a group of homeomorphisms of a disk fixing the boundary point-wise and nn marked points in the interior as a set. We also give a new proof of a result of Markovic that the mapping class group of a closed surface cannot be geometrically realized as a group of homeomorphisms.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1808.08248,
  title  = {On the non-realizability of braid groups by homeomorphisms},
  author = {Lei Chen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.08248},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

13 pages, 5 figures; To appear in Geometry and Topology