Related papers: Braid groups are linear
Representations of braid group $B_n$ on $n \geq 2$ strands by automorphisms of a free group of rank $n$ go back to Artin (1925). In 1991 Kauffman introduced a theory of virtual braids and virtual knots and links. The virtual braid group…
We introduce `braidability' as a new symmetry for (infinite) sequences of noncommutative random variables related to representations of the braid group $B_\infty$. It provides an extension of exchangeability which is tied to the symmetric…
The orbifold braid groups of two dimensional orbifolds were defined in [1] (arXiv:math/9907194) to understand certain Artin groups as subgroups of some suitable orbifold braid groups. We studied orbifold braid groups in some more detail in…
The submonoid of the $3$-strand braid group $\mathcal{B}_3$ generated by $\sigma_1$ and $\sigma_1 \sigma_2$ is known to yield an exotic Garside structure on $\mathcal{B}_3$. We introduce and study an infinite family $(M_n)_{n\geq 1}$ of…
We define a quasihomomorphism from braid groups to the concordance group of knots and examine its properties and consequences of its existence. In particular, we provide a relation between the stable four ball genus in the concordance group…
In this note, we adapt the procedure of the Long-Moody procedure to construct linear representations of welded braid groups. We exhibit the natural setting in this context and compute the first examples of representations we obtain thanks…
We study the representations of the commutator subgroup K_{n} of the braid group B_{n} into a finite group . This is done through a symbolic dynamical system. Some experimental results enable us to compute the number of subgroups of K_{n}…
Garside-theoretical solutions to the conjugacy problem in braid groups depend on the determination of a characteristic subset of the conjugacy class of any given braid, e.g. the sliding circuit set. It is conjectured that, among rigid…
In this paper we consider the cohomology of four groups related to the virtual braids of [Kauffman] and [Goussarov-Polyak-Viro], namely the pure and non-pure virtual braid groups (PvB_n and vB_n, respectively), and the pure and non-pure…
Similar pictures appear in various branches of mathematics. Sometimes this similarity gives rise to deep theorems. Mentioning such a similarity between hexagonal tilings, cubes in 3-space, configurations of lines and braid groups, we prove…
In~\cite{Ma} Manturov studied groups $G_{n}^{k}$ for fixed integers $n$ and $k$ such that $k<n$. In particular, $G_{n}^{2}$ is isomorphic to the group of free braids of $n$-stands. In~\cite{KiMa} Manturov and the author studied an invariant…
We construct long sequences of braids that are descending with respect to the standard order of braids (``Dehornoy order''), and we deduce that, contrary to all usual algebraic properties of braids, certain simple combinatorial statements…
We extend Lawrence's representations of the braid groups to relative homology modules, and we show that they are free modules over a Laurent polynomials ring. We define homological operators and we show that they actually provide a…
We show several geometric and algebraic aspects of a necklace: a link composed with a core circle and a series of circles linked to this core. We first prove that the fundamental group of the configuration space of necklaces (that we will…
The reduced Burau representation $V_n$ of the braid group $B_n$ is obtained from the action of $B_n$ on the homology of an infinite cyclic cover of the $n$-punctured disc. In this note, we calculate $H_*(B_n;V_n)$ as a module over the…
Let B_n be the braid group on n > 3 strands. We prove that B_n modulo its center is co-Hopfian. We then show that any injective endomorphism of B_n is geometric in the sense that it is induced by a homeomorphism of a punctured disk. We…
We show that a quantum field theory A living on the line and having a group G of inner symmetries gives rise to a category GLoc A of twisted representations. This category is a braided crossed G-category in the sense of Turaev. Its degree…
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…
Consider the unit ball, B = D x [0,1], containing n unknotted arcs a_1, ... a_n such that the boundary of each a_i lies in D x {0}. We give a finite presentation for the mapping class group of B fixing the arcs {a_1, ..., a_n} setwise and…
These are lecture notes from a lecture series given at CIRM in the Fall 2023. They give a down-to-earth introduction to Khovanov and Seidel's categorical representation of Artin-Tits groups, emphasizing the fact that it is all explicitly…