We suggest a new algorithm for finding a canonical representative of a given braid, and also for the harder problem of finding a $σ_1$-consistent representative. We conjecture that the algorithm is quadratic-time. We present numerical evidence for this conjecture, and prove two results: (1) The algorithm terminates in finite time. (2) The conjecture holds in the special case of 3-string braids - in fact, we prove that the algorithm finds a minimal-lenght representative for any 3-string braid.
We prove that the word problem in the mapping class group of the once-punctured surface of genus g has complexity O(|w|^2 g for |w| > log(g) where |w| is the length of the word in a (standard) set of generators. The corresponding bound in the case of the closed surface is O(|w|^2 g^2). We also carry out the same methods for the braid groups, and show that this gives a bound which improves the best known bound in this case; namely, the complexity of the word problem in the n-braid group is O(|w|^2 n), for |w| > log n. We state a similar result for mapping class groups of surfaces with several p…
A new presentation of the $n$-string braid group $B_n$ is studied. Using it, a new solution to the word problem in $B_n$ is obtained which retains most of the desirable features of the Garside-Thurston solution, and at the same time makes possible certain computational improvements. We also give a related solution to the conjugacy problem, but the improvements in its complexity are not clear at this writing.
The depth of a link measures the minimum height of a resolving tree for the link whose leaves are all unlinks. We show that the depth of the closure of a strictly positive braid word is the length of the word minus the number of distinct letters.
We give a solution to the word problem for the singular braid monoid SB_n. The complexity of the algorithm is quadratic in the product of the word length and the number of the singular generators in the word. Furthermore we algebraically reprove a result of Fenn, Keyman and Rourke that the monoid embeds into a group and we compute the cohomological dimension of this group.
After defining reduced minimum braid word and criteria for a braid family representative, different braid family representatives are derived, and a correspondence between them and families of knots and links given in Conway notation is established.
This paper proposes for every $n$, linear time reductions of the word and conjugacy problems on the braid groups $B_n$ to the corresponding problems on the braid monoids $B_n^+$ and moreover only using positive words representations.
For $n \geq 2$ we describe an $O(l^3n)$-time algorithm that determines if a length $l$ virtual braid word in the standard presentation of the virtual braid group ${\mathcal VB}_n$ represents the trivial virtual braid.
This paper is concerned with detecting when a closed braid and its axis are 'mutually braided' in the sense of Rudolph. It deals with closed braids which are fibred links, the simplest case being closed braids which present the unknot. The geometric condition for mutual braiding refers to the existence of a close control on the way in which the whole family of fibre surfaces meet the family of discs spanning the braid axis. We show how such a braid can be presented naturally as a word in the `band generators' of the braid group discussed by Birman, Ko and Lee in their recent account of the ban…
One of the most interesting questions about a group is if its word problem can be solved and how. The word problem in the braid group is of particular interest to topologists, algebraists and geometers, and is the target of intensive current research. We look at the braid group from a topological point of view (rather than a geometrical one). The braid group is defined by the action of diffeomorphisms on the fundamental group of a punctured disk. We exploit the topological definition of the braid group in order to give a new approach for solving its word problem. Our algorithm is faster, in co…
The virtual braid groups are generalizations of the classical braid groups. This paper gives an elementary proof that the classical braid group injects into the virtual braid group over the same number of strands.
The aim of the present note is to construct invariants of the Artin braid group valued in $G_{N}^{2}$, and further study of groups related to $G_{n}^{3}$. In the groups $G_{n}^{2}$, the word problem is solved; these groups are much simpler than $G_{n}^{3}$.
In the present paper, we construct a monomorphism from (Artin) pure braid group $PB_{n}$ into a group, which is `bigger' than $PB_{n}$. Roughly speaking, this mapping is defined on words of braids by adding `new generators' between generators of $PB_{n}$. By this mapping we can get a new invariant for classical braids. As one of application of this invariant, we will show examples, which are minimal words in $PB_{n}$ and the minimality can be shown by the invariant.
We consider the group of unrestricted virtual braids, describe its structure and explore its relations with fused links. Also, we define the groups of flat virtual braids and virtual Gauss braids and study some of their properties, in particular their linearity.
In [V.O. Manturov, Non-reidemeister knot theory and its applications in dynamical systems, geometry, and topology, arxiv:1501.05208] the first named author gave the definition of $k$-free braid groups $G_n^k$. Here we establish connections between free braid groups, classical braid groups and free groups: we describe explicitly the homomorphism from (pure) braid group to $k$-free braid groups for important cases $k=3,4$. On the other hand, we construct a homomorphism from (a subgroup of) free braid groups to free groups. The relations established would allow one to construct new invariants of …
Combining the results by Birman and Goldberg, it was proved the normal closure of the pure braid group of the disk $P_n(D)$ in the pure braid group of the torus $P_n(T)$ is the commutator subgroup $[P_n(T),P_n(T)]$. In this paper we are going to study the case for full braid groups: i.e. the normal closure of $B_n(D)$ in $B_n(T)$, which turns out to have an interesting geometric description.
An infinitary version of braid groups has been considered as a direct limit of n-braid groups. However, we can imagine more complicated braids with infinitely many strings. We invetisgate basic properties especially when the number of strings is countable.
In this paper we introduce the framed pure braid group on $n$ strands of an oriented surface, a topological generalisation of the pure braid group $P_n$. We give different equivalents definitions for framed pure braid groups and we study exact sequences relating these groups with other generalisations of $P_n$, usually called surface pure braid groups. The notion of surface framed braid groups is also introduced.
We show that for any given n, there exists a sequence of words a_k in the generators sigma_1, ... sigma_{n-1} of the braid group B_n, representing the identity element of B_n, such that the number of braid relations of the form sigma_i sigma_{i+1} sigma_i = sigma_{i+1} sigma_i sigma_{i+1} needed to pass from a_k to the empty word is quadratic with respect to the length of a_k.
In this paper we introduce distinct approaches to loop braid groups, a generalisation of braid groups, and unify all the definitions that have appeared so far in literature, with a complete proof of the equivalence of these definitions. These groups have in fact been an object of interest in different domains of mathematics and mathematical physics, and have been called, in addition to loop braid groups, with several names such as of motion groups, groups of permutation-conjugacy automorphisms, braid-permutation groups, welded braid groups and untwisted ring groups. In parallel to this, we int…
In the present paper, we introduce $\mathbb{Z}_2$-braids and, more generally, $G$-braids for an arbitrary group $G$. They form a natural group-theoretic counterpart of $G$-knots, see \cite{reidmoves}. The underlying idea, used in the construction of these objects --- decoration of crossings with some additional information --- generalizes an important notion of {\it parity} introduced by the second author (see \cite{parity}) to different combinatorically--geometric theories, such as knot theory, braid theory and others. These objects act as natural enhancements of classical (Artin) braid group…
In this article, we give a numerical algorithm to compute braid groups of curves, hyperplane arrangements, and parameterized system of polynomial equations. Our main result is an algorithm that determines the cross-locus and the generators of the braid group.
This paper gives a new interpretation of the virtual braid group in terms of a strict monoidal category SC that is freely generated by one object and three morphisms, two of the morphisms corresponding to basic pure virtual braids and one morphism corresponding to a transposition in the symmetric group. The key to this approach is to take pure virtual braids as primary. The generators of the pure virtual braid group are abstract solutions to the algebraic Yang-Baxter equation. This point of view illuminates representations of the virtual braid groups and pure virtual braid groups via solutions…
We construct a group $Γ_{n}^{4}$ corresponding to the motion of points in $\mathbb{R}^{3}$ from the point of view of Delaunay triangulations. We study homomorphisms from pure braids on $n$ strands to the product of copies of $Γ_{n}^{4}$. We will also study the group of pure braids in $\mathbb{R}^{3}$, which is described by a fundamental group of the restricted configuration space of $\mathbb{R}^{3}$, and define the group homomorphism from the group of pure braids in $\mathbb{R}^{3}$ to $Γ_{n}^{4}$. In the end of this paper we give some comments about relations between the restricted configurat…
In this paper we define a monoid of pseudo braids and prove that this monoid is isomorphic to a singular braid monoid. We also prove an analogue of Markov's theorem for pseudo braids.
The $d$-fold ($d \geq 3$) branched coverings on a disk give an infinite family of nongeometric embeddings of braid groups into mapping class groups. We, in this paper, give new explicit expressions of these braid group representations into automorphism groups of free groups in terms of the actions on the generators of free groups. We also give a systematic way of constructing and expressing these braid group representations in terms of a new gadget, called covering groupoid. We prove that each generator $\widetildeβ_i$ of braid group inside mapping class group induced by $d$-fold covering is t…
In 1987 Bieri, Neumann and Strebel introduced a geometric invariant for discrete groups. In this article we compute and explicitly describe the BNS-invariant for the pure braid groups.
It is proved that the braid monodromy group $Γ_{P(z)}$ of a polynomial $P(z)\in\mathbb C[z]$, $°P(z)=n$, is the braid group $\text{Br}_n$ if the polynomial $P(z)$ has $n-1$ distinct critical values.
In this note we show that any homomorphism from a pure surface braid group to a torsion-free hyperbolic group either has a cyclic image or factors through a forgetful map. This extends and gives a new proof of an earlier result of the author which works only when the target is a free group or a surface group. We also prove a similar rigidity result for the pure braid group of the disk.
By evaluating the Burau representation at t=-1, we obtain a symplectic representation of the braid group. We define the congruence subgroups of the braid group to be the preimages of the principal congruence subgroups of the symplectic group. Our main result is that the level four congruence subgroup of the braid group is equal to the group generated by squares of Dehn twists and is also equal to the group generated by squares of pure braids. We also compute the image of the point pushing subgroup under the symplectic representation.
We show that a non-trivial, non-central normal subgroup of the braid groups contains a braid whose closure is a hyperbolic knot with arbitrary large genus. This shows that non-faithfulness of a quantum representation implies that the corresponding quantum invariant fails to detect the unknot. The proof utilizes the Dehornoy ordering of the braid groups.
We use the classical interpretation of the braid group $B_3$ as a central extension of the modular group $\text{PSL}_2\left(\mathbb{Z}\right)$ to establish new and fundamental properties of $B_3$ using the theory of continued fractions. In particular, we give simple and natural linear time algorithms to solve the word and conjugacy problems in $B_3$. The algorithms introduced in this paper are easy to implement and are the most efficient algorithms in the literature to solve these problems in the braid group $B_3$.
We generalize presentations of the fundamental group of discriminant complements and arrive at a class of presentations associated naturally with words in the free monoid of the alphabet $σ_1,\dots,σ_{n-1}$. Our study addresses invariance properties of these presentations and the presented groups under various operations on the words. In particular we prove that the group does only depend on the corresponding element in the positive braid monoid, and under mild hypotheses only on its conjugacy class in the braid group.
Braid combing is a procedure defined by Emil Artin to solve the word problem in braid groups for the first time. It is well-known to have exponential complexity. In this paper, we use the theory of straight line programs to give a polynomial algorithm which performs braid combing. This procedure can be applied to braids on surfaces, providing the first algorithm (to our knowledge) which solves the word problem for braid groups on surfaces with boundary in polynomial time and space. In the case of surfaces without boundary, braid combing needs to use a section from the fundamental group of the …
In this paper we give new presentations of the braid groups and the pure braid groups of a closed surface. We also give an algorithm to solve the word problem in these groups, using the given presentations.
A large class of positive finite presentations of the braid groups is found and studied. It is shown that no presentations but known exceptions in this class have the property that equivalent braid words are also equivalent under positive relations.
The Helon model identifies Standard Model quarks and leptons with certain framed braids joined together at both ends by a connecting node (disk). These surfaces with boundary are called braided 3-belts (or simply belts). Twisting and braiding of ribbons composing braided 3-belts are interchangeable, and it was shown in the literature that any braided 3-belt can be written in a pure twist form, specified by a vector of three multiples of half integers [a,b,c], a topological invariant. This paper identifies the set of braided 3-belts that can be written in a braid only form in which all twisting…
We study the structure of the virtual braid group. It is shown that the virtual braid group is a semi--direct product of the virtual pure braid group and the symmetric group. Also, it is shown that the virtual pure braid group is a semi--direct product of free groups. From these results we obtain a normal form of words in the virtual braid group. We introduce the concept of a universal braid group. This group contains the classical braid group and has as its quotient groups the singular braid group, virtual braid group, welded braid group, and classical braid group.
We begin with a review of the notion of a braid group. We then discuss some known solutions to decision problems in braid groups. We then move on to proving new results in braid group algorithmics. We offer a quick solution to the generalized word problem in braid groups, in the special case of cyclic subgroups. We illustrate this solution and its complexity using a multitape Turing machine. We then turn to a discussion of decision problems in cyclic amalgamations of groups. Again using a multitape Turing machine, we solve the word problem for the cyclic amalgamation of two braid groups. We an…
In this paper, we give a proof of the result of Brandenbursky and Kȩdra which says that the commutator subgroup of the infinite braid group admits stably unbounded norms. Moreover, we observe the norms which we constructed are equivalent to the biinvariant word norm studied by Brandenbursky and Kȩdra.
Let $Γ$ be a Coxeter graph, let $(W,S)$ be its associated Coxeter system, and let $(A,Σ$) be its associated Artin-Tits system. We regard $W$ as a reflection group acting on a real vector space $V$. Let $I$ be the Tits cone, and let $E_Γ$ be the complement in $I +iV$ of the reflecting hyperplanes. Recall that Charney, Davis, and Salvetti have constructed a simplicial complex $Ω(Γ)$ having the same homotopy type as $E_Γ$. We observe that, if $T \subset S$, then $Ω(Γ_T)$ naturally embeds into $Ω(Γ)$. We prove that this embedding admits a retraction $π_T: Ω(Γ) \to Ω(Γ_T)$, and we deduce several to…
We find finite presentations for the automorphism group of the Artin pure braid group and the automorphism group of the pure braid group associated to the full monomial group.
Drinfel'd used associators to construct families of universal representations of braid groups. We consider semi-associators (i.e., we drop the pentagonal axiom and impose a normalization in degree one). We show that the process may be reversed, to obtain semi-associators from universal representations of 3-braids. We view braid groups as subgroups of braid-permutation groups. We construct a family of universal representations of braid-permutation groups, without using associators. All representations in the family are faithful, defined over $\bbQ$ by simple explicit formulae. We show that they…
Let M be a compact, connected surface, possibly with a finite set of points removed from its interior. Let d,n be positive integers, and let N be a d-fold covering space of M. We show that the covering map induces an embedding of the n-th braid group B_n(M) of M in the (dn)-th braid group B_{dn}(N) of N, and give several applications of this result. First, we classify the finite subgroups of the n-th braid group of the real projective plane, from which we deduce an alternative proof of the classification of the finite subgroups of the mapping class group of the n-punctured real projective plan…
In the paper we give a survey of rather new notions and results which generalize classical ones in the theory of braids. Among such notions are various inverse monoids of partial braids. We also observe presentations different from standard Artin presentation for generalizations of braids. Namely, we consider presentations with small number of generators, Sergiescu graph-presentations and Birman-Ko-Lee presentation. The work of V.V.Chaynikov on the word and conjugacy problems for the singular braid monoid in Birman-Ko-Lee generators is described as well.
We give formulae for the first homology of the $n$-braid group and the pure 2-braid group over a finite graph in terms of graph theoretic invariants. As immediate consequences, a graph is planar if and only if the first homology of the $n$-braid group over the graph is torsion-free and the conjectures about the first homology of the pure 2-braid groups over graphs in \cite{FH} can be verified. We discover more characteristics of graph braid groups: the $n$-braid group over a planar graph and the pure 2-braid group over any graph have a presentation whose relators are words of commutators, and …
In this paper we determine the automorphism groups of the profinite braid groups with four or more strings in terms of the profinite Grothendieck-Teichmüller group.
We define Dynnikov coordinates on virtual braid groups. We prove that they are faithful invariants of virtual 2-braids, and present evidence that they are also very powerful invariants for general virtual braids.
We prove that the pure braid groups on closed, orientable surfaces are bi-orderable, and that the pure braid groups on closed, non-orientable surfaces have generalized torsion, thus they are not bi-orderable.
For every group genetic code with finite number of generating and at most with one defining relation we introduce the braid group of this genetic code. This construction includes the braid group of Euclidean plane, the braid groups of closed orientable surfaces, B type groups of Artin-Brieskorn, and allow us to study all these groups with common point of view. We present some results on the structure of the braid groups of genetic codes, describe normal form of words, torsion, and some results on widths of the verbal subgroups. Also we prove that Scott's system of defining relations for the br…
We give a monoidal presentation of Coxeter and braid 2-groups, in terms of decorated planar graphs. This presentation extends the Coxeter presentation. We deduce a simple criterion for a Coxeter group or braid group to act on a category.
