Related papers: Burau representation and random walk on string lin…

Burau representation of the Artin braid group remains as one of the very important representations for the braid group. Partly, because of its connections to the Alexander polynomial which is one of the first and most useful invariants for…

The Burau representation is a fundamental bridge between the braid group and diverse other topics in mathematics. A 1974 question of Birman asks for a description of the image; in this paper we give a "strong approximation" to the answer.…

Virtual knots arise in the study of Gauss diagrams and Vassiliev invariants of usual knots. Virtual braids correspond naturally to virtual knots. We consider the group of virtual braids on n strings VB_n and its Burau representation, in…

We give a simple topological construction of the Burau representations of the loop braid groups. There are four versions: defined either on the non-extended or extended loop braid groups, and in each case there is an unreduced and a reduced…

The Burau representation enables to define many other representations of the braid group $B_n$ by the topological operation of ``cabling braids''. We show here that these representations split into copies of the Burau representation itself…

We use the relation between the quantum su(2) R-matrix and the Burau representation of the braid group in order to study the structure of the colored Jones polynomial of links. We show that similarly to the case of a knot, the colored Jones…

In this paper we indicate one method of construction of linear representations of groups and algebras with translation invariant (except, maybe , finite number) defining relationships. As an illustration of this method, we give one approach…

Construction of representations of braid group generators from $N$-state vertex models provide an elegant route to study knot and link invariants. Using such a braid group representation, an algebraic formula for the link invariants was put…

A Markov chain is considered whose states are orderings of an underlying fixed tree and whose transitions are local "random-to-front" reorderings, driven by a probability distribution on subsets of the leaves. The eigenvalues of the…

In the present paper, we construct a variant of the Burau representation of two generalizations of the classical braid group. For the Gassner representation, we propose an iterative procedure to find and generalize the extension of this…

In this paper we survey some work on representations of $B_n$ given by the induced action on a homology module of some space. One of these, called the Lawrence-Krammer representation, recently came to prominence when it was shown to be…

We consider subgroups of the braid groups which are generated by $k$-th powers of the standard generators and prove that any infinite intersection (with even $k$) is trivial. This is motivated by some conjectures of Squier concerning the…

We consider the symplectic representation $\rho_n$ of a braid group $B(n)$ in $Sp(2l,\mathbb{Z})$, for $l=\Big[\dfrac{n-1}{2}\Big]$. If $P$ is a polynomial on the $4l^2$ coefficients of the matrices in $Sp(2l,\mathbb{Z})$, we show that the…

Representations based on random walks can exploit discrete data distributions for clustering and classification. We extend such representations from discrete to continuous distributions. Transition probabilities are now calculated using a…

In 1996, Tong, Yang and Ma defined a family of representations of the braid group which have the same dimensions as the (unreduced) Burau representations but are not equivalent. The Burau representation was defined homologically and…

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 disc with $n$ punctures. The group homology $H_*(B_n;V_n)$ of braid groups with…

We develop a general theory of Markov chains realizable as random walks on $\mathscr R$-trivial monoids. It provides explicit and simple formulas for the eigenvalues of the transition matrix, for multiplicities of the eigenvalues via…

It is shown that the combinatorics of commutation relations is well suited for analyzing the convergence rate of certain Markov chains. Examples studied include random walk on irreducible representations, a local random walk on partitions…

We establish relations between both the classical and the dual Garside structures of the braid group and the Burau representation. Using the classical structure, we formulate a non-vanishing criterion for the Burau representation of the…

A previous work of A. Conway and the author introduced $L^2$-Burau maps of braids, which are generalizations of the Burau representation whose coefficients live in a more general group ring than the one of Laurent polynomials. This same…