Related papers: Simple Braids
The recent proof by Bigelow and Krammer that the braid groups are linear opens the possibility of applications to the study of knots and links. It was proved by the first author and Menasco that any closed braid representative of the unknot…
We study surface links whose link groups are free abelian, and construct various stimulating and highly non-trivial examples of such surface links.
We classify homomorphisms from the braid group on $n$ strands to the pure mapping class group of a nonoriantable surface of genus $g$. For $n\ge 14$ and $g\le 2\lfloor{n/2}\rfloor+1$ every such homomorphism is either cyclic, or it maps…
This paper explores the problem of unknotting closed braids and classical knots in mathematical knot theory. We apply evolutionary computation methods to learn sequences of moves that simplify knot diagrams, and show that this can be…
We present simple graph-theoretic characterizations of Cayley graphs for monoids, semigroups and groups. We extend these characterizations to commutative monoids, semilattices, and abelian groups.
In this paper we study Cartan subalgebras in general and special linear algebras over a field of positive characteristic. We determined the conjugacy classes of Cartan subalgebras under the general linear groups, and count the explicit…
Presentations for unbraided, braided and symmetric pseudomonoids are defined. Biequivalences characterising the semistrict bicategories generated by these presentations are proven. It is shown that these biequivalences categorify results in…
We use grid diagrams to present a unified picture of braids, Legendrian knots, and transverse knots.
We characterise the form of all simple, finite graphs for which the girth of the graph is equal to the circumference of the graph. We apply this to prove a bound on the number of edges in such a graph.
We construct some braided quantum groups over the circle group. These are analogous to the free orthogonal quantum groups and generalise the braided quantum SU(2) groups for complex deformation parameter. We describe their irreducible…
Braid varieties parametrize linear configurations of flags with transversality conditions dictated by positive braids. They include and generalize reduced double Bruhat cells, positroid varieties, open Bott-Samelson varieties, and…
We investigate cobordisms of free knots. Free knots and links are also called homotopy classes of Gauss words and phrases. We define a new strong invariant of free knots which allows to detect free knots not cobordant to the trivial one.
Classification, up to isomorphism, of algebras from a non-empty subset of the variety of $n$- dimensional algebras is presented. It is shown that these algebras have only trivial automorphism and if the basic field is algebraically closed…
We study homological representations of mapping class groups, including the braid groups. These arise from the twisted homology of certain configuration spaces, and come in many different flavours. Our goal is to give a unified general…
Just as links may be algebraically described as certain morphisms in the category of tangles, compact surfaces smoothly embedded in R^4 may be described as certain 2-morphisms in the 2-category of `2-tangles in 4 dimensions'. In this…
We give several new positive finite presentations for the pure braid group that are easy to remember and simple in form. All of our presentations involve a metric on the punctured disc so that the punctures are arranged "convexly", which is…
Dehn twists around simple closed curves in oriented surfaces satisfy the braid relations. This gives rise to a group theoretic from the braid group to the mapping class group. We prove here that this map is trivial in stable homology with…
This paper is a survey on the theory of knotoids and braidoids. Knotoids are open ended knot diagrams in surfaces and braidoids are geometric objects analogous to classical braids, forming a counterpart theory to the theory of knotoids in…
We construct an explicit bundle with flat connection on the configuration space of n points of a complex curve. This enables one to recover the `formality' isomorphism between the Lie algebra of the prounipotent completion of the pure braid…
We show that there are only finitely many homogeneous links whose Conway polynomial has any given degree. Using this we give an example of an inhomogeneous, fibred knot. Secondly, we show how to compute the monodromy of a homogeneous link…