Related papers: Garside-theoretic analysis of Burau representation…
The Burau representation is a natural action of the braid group B_n on the free Z[t,t^{-1}]-module of rank n-1. It is a longstanding open problem to determine for which values of n this representation is faithful. It is known to be faithful…
We prove that the image of the Full braid group $B_{n+1}$ on $n+1$ strands under the Burau representation, evaluated at a primitive $d$-th root of unity is arithmetic provided $n\geq d$.
We list the irreducible two dimensional complex representations of the Braid group B3 in elementary way. Then, we make a decomposition of the square of its irreducible Burau representation.
\begin{abstract} The reduced Burau representation is a natural action of the braid group $B_n$ on the first homology group $H_1({\tilde{D}}_n;\mathbb{Z})$ of a suitable infinite cyclic covering space ${\tilde{D}}_n$ of the $n$--punctured…
Using a probabilistic interpretation of the Burau representation of the braid group offered by Vaughan Jones, we generalize the Burau representation to a representation of the semigroup of string links. This representation is determined by…
We investigate braid group representations associated with unitary braided vector spaces, focusing on a conjecture that such representations should have virtually abelian images in general and finite image provided the braiding has finite…
This work presents an approach towards the representation theory of the braid groups $B_n$. We focus on finite-dimensional representations over the field of Laurent series which can be obtained from representations of infinitesimal braids,…
We study the density of the Burau representation from the perspective of a non-semisimple TQFT at a fourth root of unity. This gives a TQFT construction of Squier's Hermitian form on the Burau representation with possibly mixed signature.…
We give an algorithm to decide whether a given braid with four strings is a product of three factors which are conjugates of standard generators of the braid group. The algorithm is of polynomial time. It is based on the Garside theory. We…
We show that the Schur-Weyl type duality between $gl(1|1)$ and $GL_n$ gives a natural representation-theoretic setting for the relation between reduced and non-reduced Burau representations.
It is well known that the Burau representation of the braid group can be used to recover the Alexander polynomial of the closure of a braid. We define $L^2$-Burau maps and use them to compute some $L^2$-Alexander torsions of links. As an…
In the paper we give a survey on braid groups and subjects connected with them. We start with the initial definition, then we give several interpretations as well as several presentations of these groups. Burau presentation for the pure…
We discuss the extension of the faithfulness question for the Burau representation of braid groups to the case of Artin--Tits groups. We prove that the Burau representation is not faithful in affine type $\tilde{A_3}$, and not faithful over…
We categorify the coefficients of the Burau representation matrix using elementary geometrical methods. We show the faithfulness of this categorification in the sense that it detects the trivial braid.
We investigate the cohomology of the level 4 subgroup of the braid group, namely, the kernel of the mod 4 reduction of the Burau representation at $t=-1$. This group is also equal to the kernel of the mod 2 abelianization of the pure braid…
We give an algorithm which decides the Nielsen-Thurston type of a given four-strand braid. The complexity of our algorithm is quadratic with respect to word length. The proof of its validity is based on a result which states that for a…
The braid group $B_4$ naturally acts on the rational projective plane $\mathbb{P}^2(\mathbb{Q})$, this action corresponds to the classical integral reduced Burau representation of $B_4$. The first result of this paper is a classification of…
We study the representations of the commutator subgroup of the braid group with n strands in the symmetric group of degree r. Motivated by some experimental results, we conjecture that for n>r, every such representation is trivial.
If g is a quasitriangular Lie bialgebra, one can asks what is the geometrical meaning of its r-matrix. A first answer was given in a paper by Weinstein and Xu, using purely geometrical means: roughly, one has that the formal Poisson group…
The Burau representation of the braid group can be used to recover the Alexander polynomial of the closure of a braid. We define twisted Burau maps and use them to compute twisted Alexander polynomials.