Related papers: Braid groups, free groups, and the loop space of t…

On looking at the literature associated with string theory one finds statements that a sequence of matrix algebras converges to the 2-sphere (or to other spaces). There is often careful bookkeeping with lengths, which suggests that one is…

Our main result has topological, combinatorial and computational flavor. It is motivated by a fundamental conjecture stating that computing Khovanov homology of a closed braid of fixed number of strands has polynomial time complexity. We…

In this paper we describe the structure of a group of conjugating automorphisms $C_n$ of free group and prove that this structure is similar to the structure of a braid group $B_n$ with $n>1$ strings. We find the linear representation of…

In this paper we study the kernel of the homomorphism $B_{g,n} \to B_n$ of the braid group $B_{g,n}$ in the handlebody $\mathcal{H}_g$ to the braid group $B_n$. We prove that this kernel is a semi-direct product of free groups. Also, we…

We define and study extensions of Artin's representation and braid monodromy representation to the case of topological and algebraical generalisations of braid groups. In particular we provide faithful representations of braid groups of…

Chas and Sullivan proved the existence of a Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra structure in the homology of free loop spaces on closed finite dimensional smooth manifolds using chains and chain homotopies. This algebraic structure involves an…

We propose two definitions of configuration Lie groupoids and in both the cases we prove a Fadell-Neuwirth type fibration theorem for a class of Lie groupoids. We show that this is the best possible extension, in the sense that, for the…

Let G be the fundamental group of the complement of a K(G,1) hyperplane arrangement (such as Artin's pure braid group) or more generally a homologically toroidal group (as defined in the paper). The subgroup of elements in the complex…

Let M be a surface, perhaps with boundary, and either compact, or with a finite number of points removed from the interior of the surface. We consider the inclusion i: F\_n(M) --\textgreater{} M^n of the nth configuration space F\_n(M) of M…

Twin groups and virtual twin groups are planar analogues of braid groups and virtual braid groups, respectively. These groups play the role of braid groups in the Alexander-Markov correspondence for the theory of stable isotopy classes of…

We attach to every Coxeter system (W,S) an extension C_W of the corresponding Iwahori-Hecke algebra. We construct a 1-parameter family of (generically surjective) morphisms from the group algebra of the corresponding Artin group onto C_W.…

We consider braids on $m+n$ strands, such that the first $m$ strands are trivially fixed. We denote the set of all such braids by $B_{m,n}$. Via concatenation $B_{m,n}$ acquires a group structure. The objective of this paper is to find a…

We construct a homomorphism $f$ from the braid group $B_{2n+2}$ on $2n+2$ strands to the Steinberg group associated with the Lie type $C_n$ and with integer coefficients. This homomorphism lifts the well-known symplectic representation of…

Motivated by the work of Birman about the relationship between mapping class groups and braid groups, we discuss the relationship between the orbit braid group and the equivariant mapping class group on the closed surface $M$ with a free…

It is shown that particles with braid group statistics (Plektons) in three-dimensional space-time cannot be free, in a quite elementary sense: They must exhibit elastic two-particle scattering into every solid angle, and at every energy.…

Given a hyperplane arrangement in a complex vector space of dimension n, there is a natural associated arrangement of codimension k subspaces in a complex vector space of dimension k*n. Topological invariants of the complement of this…

The aim of this paper is to explain the relationship between the (co)homology of the free loop space and the Hochschild homology of its singular cochain algebra. We introduce all the relevant technical tools, namely simplicial and cyclic…

The Lawrence-Krammer representation of the braid groups recently came to prominence when it was shown to be faithful by myself and Krammer. It is an action of the braid group on a certain homology module $H_2(\tilde{C})$ over the ring of…

A link in the 3-sphere is homotopically trivial, according to Milnor, if its components bound disjoint maps of disks in the 4-ball. This paper concerns the question of what spaces give rise to the same class of homotopically trivial links…

Braided groups and braided matrices are novel algebraic structures living in braided or quasitensor categories. As such they are a generalization of super-groups and super-matrices to the case of braid statistics. Here we construct braided…