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.
In this note, we show that the sets of all stable commutator lengths in the braided Ptolemy-Thompson groups are equal to non-negative rational numbers.
We prove that the smallest non-trivial quotients of the commutator subgroups of the braid groups are the alternating groups, proving a conjecture of Chudnovsky-Kordek-Li-Partin. Furthermore, we show that any minimal quotient map is the standard projection, composed with an automorphism of the alternating group.
We give a complete classification of homomorphisms from the commutator subgroup of the braid group on $n$ strands to the braid group on $n$ strands when $n$ is at least 7. In particular, we show that each nontrivial homomorphism extends to an automorphism of the braid group on $n$ strands. This answers four questions of Vladimir Lin. Our main new tool is the theory of totally symmetric sets.
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 $WB_n$ be the welded (or loop) braid group on n strands, $n \geq 3$. We investigate commutator subgroup of $WB_n$. We prove that the commutator subgroup $WB_n'$ is finitely generated and Hopfian. We show that $WB_n'$ is perfect if and only if $n \geq 5$. We also compute finite presentation for $FWB_n'$, the commutator subgroup of the flat welded braid group $FWB_n$. Along the way, we investigate adorability of these groups.
For $n$ at least 7 and $n$ equal to 5, we give generating sets of size 2 for the commutator subgroup of the braid group on $n$ strands. These generating sets are of the smallest possible cardinality. For $n$ equal to 4 or 6, we give generating sets of size three. We also prove that the commutator subgroup of the braid group on 4 strands cannot be generated by fewer than three elements.
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 and the stable commutator length in braid groups, and produce examples of infinite families of concordance classes of knots with uniformly bounded four ball genus. We also provide applications to the geometry of the infinite braid group. In particular, we show that its commutator subgroup admits a stably unbounded conjugation invariant norm. This answers an…
In this paper, we investigate some applications of commutator subgroups to homotopy groups and geometric groups. In particular, we show that the intersection subgroups of some canonical subgroups in certain link groups modulo their symmetric commutator subgroups are isomorphic to the (higher) homotopy groups. This gives a connection between links and homotopy groups. Similar results hold for braid and surface groups.
The singular braids with $n$ strands, $n \geq 3$, were introduced independently by Baez and Birman. It is known that the monoid formed by the singular braids is embedded in a group that is known as singular braid group, denoted by $SG_n$. There has been another generalization of braid groups, denoted by $GVB_n$, $n \geq 3$, which was introduced by Fang as a group of symmetries behind quantum quasi-shuffle structures. The group $GVB_n$ simultaneously generalizes the classical braid group, as well as the virtual braid group on $n$ strands. We investigate the commutator subgroups $SG_n'$ and $GVB…
Let $VB_n$, resp. $WB_n$ denote the virtual, resp. welded, braid group on $n$ strands. We study their commutator subgroups $VB_n' = [VB_n, VB_n]$ and, $WB_n' = [WB_n, WB_n]$ respectively. We obtain a set of generators and defining relations for these commutator subgroups. In particular, we prove that $VB_n'$ is finitely generated if and only if $n \geq 4$, and $WB_n'$ is finitely generated for $n \geq 3$. Also we prove that $VB_3'/VB_3'' =\mathbb{Z}_3 \oplus \mathbb{Z}_3 \oplus\mathbb{Z}_3 \oplus \mathbb{Z}^{\infty}$, $VB_4' / VB_4'' = \mathbb{Z}_3 \oplus \mathbb{Z}_3 \oplus \mathbb{Z}_3$, $WB…
We establish that any even permutation from A_n moving at least [3n/4] + o(n) points is the commutator of a generating pair of A_n and a generating pair of S_n. From this we deduce an exponential lower bound on the number of systems of transitivity in alternating and symmetric groups.
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…
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 …
Let VB$_n$ be the virtual braid group on $n$ strands and let $\mathfrak{S}_n$ be the symmetric group on $n$ letters. Let $n,m \in \mathbb{N}$ such that $n \ge 5$, $m \ge 2$ and $n \ge m$. We determine all possible homomorphisms from VB$_n$ to $\mathfrak{S}_m$, from $\mathfrak{S}_n$ to VB$_m$ and from VB$_n$ to VB$_m$. As corollaries we get that Out(VB$_n$) is isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$ and that VB$_n$ is both Hopfian and co-Hofpian.
This paper is devoted to the proof of a structural theorem, concerning certain homomorphic images of Artin braid group on $n$ strands in finite symmetric groups. It is shown that any one of these permutation groups is an extension of the symmetric group on $n$ letters by an appropriate abelian group, and in "half" of the cases this extension splits.
In arXiv:0910.1727 we find certain finite homomorphic images of Artin braid group into appropriate symmetric groups, which a posteriori are extensions of the symmetric group on n letters by an abelian group. The main theorem of this paper characterizes completely the extensions of this type that are split.
We give a new infinite family of group homomorphisms from the braid group B_k to the symmetric group S_{mk} for all k and m \geq 2. Most known permutation representations of braids are included in this family. We prove that the homomorphisms in this family are non-cyclic and transitive. For any divisor l of m, 1\leq l < m, we prove in particular that if \frac{m}{l} is odd then there are 1 + \frac{m}{l} non-conjugate homomorphisms included in our family. We define a certain natural restriction on homomorphisms B_k to S_n, common to all homomorphisms in our family, which we term 'good', and of w…
In this paper we give an affirmative answer to a conjecture proposed by Danny Neftin, that is, if the commutator of two permutations has at least n-4 fixed points where two permutations are in degree n symmetric group, then there exists a permutation in this symmetric inverting both of them.
We use a variation on the commutator collection process to characterize those pure braids which become trivial when any one strand is deleted, or, more generally, those pure braids which become trivial when all the strands in any one of a list of sets of strands is deleted.
We show how the categorial approach to inverse monoids can be described as a certain endofunctor (which we call the partialization functor) of some category. In this paper we show that this functor can be used to obtain several recently defined inverse monoids, and use it to define a new object, which we call the inverse braid-permutation monoid. A presentation for this monoid is obtained. Finally, we study some abstract properties of the partialization functor and its iterations. This leads to a categorification of a monoid of all order preserving maps, and series of orthodox generalizations …
We derive a lower bound on the size of finite non-cyclic quotients of the braid group that is superexponential in the number of strands. We also derive a similar lower bound for nontrivial finite quotients of the commutator subgroup of the braid group.
E. Artin described all irreducible representations of the braid group B_k to the symmetric group S(k). We strengthen some of his results and, moreover, exhibit a complete picture of homomorphisms of B_k to S(n) for n<2k+1. We show that the image of such ahomomorphism f is cyclic whenever either (*) n<k\ne 4 or (**) f is irreducible and 6<k<n<2k. For k>6 there exist, up to conjugation, exactly 3 irreducible representations of B_k into S(2k) with non-cyclic images but they all are imprimitive. We use these results to prove that for n<k\ne 4 the image of any homomorphism from B_k to B_n is cyclic…
The size of minimal generating set for commutator of Sylow 2-subgroup of alternating group was found. Given a permutational wreath product of finite cyclic groups sequence we prove that the commutator width of such groups is 1 and we research some properties of its commutator subgroup. It was shown that $(Syl_2 A_{2^k})^2 = Syl'_2 (A_{2^k}), \, k>2$. A new approach to presentation of Sylow 2-subgroups of alternating group ${A_{2^{k}}}$ was applied. As a result the short proof that the commutator width of Sylow 2-subgroups of alternating group ${A_{2^{k}}}$, permutation group ${S_{2^{k}}}$ and …
We first show that the braid group over a graph topologically containing no $Θ$-shape subgraph has a presentation related only by commutators. Then using discrete Morse theory and triple Massey products, we prove that a graph topologically contains none of four prescribed graphs if and only if its 4-braid groups is a right-angled Artin group.
We study the rational permutation braids, that is the elements of an Artin-Tits group of spherical type which can be written $x^{-1} y$ where $x$ and $y$ are prefixes of the Garside element of the braid monoid. We give a geometric characterization of these braids in type $A_n$ and $B_n$ and then show that in spherical types different from $D_n$ the simple elements of the dual braid monoid (for arbitrary choice of Coxeter element) embedded in the braid group are rational permutation braids (we conjecture this to hold also in type $D_n$).This property implies positivity properties of the polynom…
Given a permutational wreath product sequence of cyclic groups of prime order we research a commutator width of such groups and some properties of its commutator subgroup. Commutator width of Sylow 2-subgroups of alternating group $A_{2^{k}}$, permutation group $S_{2^k}$ and $C_p \wr B$ were founded. The result of research was extended on subgroups $(Syl_2 {A_{2^k}})'$, $p>2$. The paper presents a construction of commutator subgroup of Sylow 2-subgroups of symmetric and alternating groups. Also minimal generic sets of Sylow 2-subgroups of $A_{2^k}$ were founded. Elements presentation of $(Syl_…
We present and discuss some open problems formulated by participants of the International Workshop "Knots, Braids, and Auto\-mor\-phism Groups" held in Novosibirsk, 2014. Problems are related to palindromic and commutator widths of groups; properties of Brunnian braids and two-colored braids, corresponding to an amalgamation of groups; extreme properties of hyperbolic 3-orbifold groups, relations between inner and quasi-inner automorphisms of groups; and Staic's construction of symmetric cohomology of groups.
We determine the lower central and derived series of the n-string braid groups B_n(RP^2) of the real projective plane. We are motivated in part by the study of Fadell-Neuwirth short exact sequences, but the problem is interesting in its own right. For n=1,2, B_n(RP^2) is finite and its lower central and derived series are known. If n>2 (resp. n>4), we show that the lower central (resp. derived) series of B_n(RP^2) is constant from the commutator subgroup onwards, and we exhibit a presentation of the commutator subgroup. In the exceptional cases n=3,4, we determine explicitly the complete deriv…
This paper investigate bounds of the commutator width \cite {Mur} of a wreath product of two groups. The commutator width of direct limit of wreath product of cyclic groups are found. For given a permutational wreath product sequence of cyclic groups we investigate its commutator width and some properties of its commutator subgroup. It was proven that the commutator width of an arbitrary element of the wreath product of cyclic groups $C_{p_i}, \, p_i\in \mathbb{N} $ equals to 1. As a corollary, it is shown that the commutator width of Sylows $p$-subgroups of symmetric and alternating groups $p…
For every finite Coxeter group $Γ$, each positive braids in the corresponding braid group admits a unique decomposition as a finite sequence of elements of $Γ$, the so-called Garside-normal form.The study of the associated adjacency matrix $Adj(Γ)$ allows to count the number of Garside-normal form of a given length.In this paper we prove that the characteristic polynomial of $Adj(B_n)$ divides the one of $Adj(B_{n+1})$. The key point is the use of a Hopf algebra based on signed permutations. A similar result was already known for the type $A$. We observe that this does not hold for type $D$. T…
Dehornoy showed that the Artin braid groups $B_n$ are left-orderable. This ordering is discrete, but we show that, for $n >2$ the Dehornoy ordering, when restricted to certain natural subgroups, becomes a dense ordering. Among subgroups which arise are the commutator subgroup and the kernel of the Burau representation (for those $n$ for which the kernel is nontrivial). These results follow from a characterization of least positive elements of any normal subgroup of $B_n$ which is discretely ordered by the Dehornoy ordering.
Let B(n) be the set of pairs of permutations from the symmetric group of degree n with a 3-cycle commutator, and let A(n) be the set of those pairs which generate the symmetric or the alternating group of degree n. We find effective formulas for calculating the cardinalities of both sets. More precisely, we show that #B(n)/n! is a discrete convolution of the partition function and a linear combination of divisor functions, while #A(n)/n! is the product of a polynomial and Jordan's totient function. In particular, it follows that the probability that a pair of random permutations with a 3-cycle…
Motivated by a desire to test the security of the pubic key exchange protocol of I. Anshel, M. Anshel, and D. Goldfeld, (``An Algebraic Method for Public-Key Cryptography'', Mathematical Research Letters, vol. 6, pp. 1-5, 1999), we study algorithmic approaches to the simple commutator decision and promise problems (SCDP/SCPP) for the braid groups B_n. We take as our point of departure a seminal paper of O. Ore, (``Some Remarks on Commutators'', Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp.307-314, 1951), which studies the SCPP for the symmetric groups. Our results build …
We prove that the commutator is stable in permutations endowed with the Hamming distance, that is, two permutations that almost commute are near two commuting permutations. Our result extends to $k$-tuples of almost commuting permutations, for any given $k$, and allows restrictions, for instance, to even permutations.
We inspect the normal subgroup structure of the braided Thompson groups Vbr and Fbr. We prove that every proper normal subgroup of Vbr lies in the kernel of the natural quotient Vbr \onto V, and we exhibit some families of interesting such normal subgroups. For Fbr, we prove that for any normal subgroup N of Fbr, either N is contained in the kernel of Fbr \onto F, or else N contains [Fbr,Fbr]. We also compute the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel invariant Sigma^1(Fbr), which is a useful tool for understanding normal subgroups containing the commutator subgroup.
Random braids that are formed by multiplying randomly chosen permutation braids are studied by analyzing their behavior under Garside's weighted decomposition and cycling. Using this analysis, we propose a polynomial-time algorithm to the conjugacy problem that is successful for random braids in overwhelming probability. As either the braid index or the number of permutation-braid factors increases, the success probability converges to 1 and so, contrary to the common belief, the distribution of hard instances for the conjugacy problem is getting sparser. We also prove a conjecture by Birman a…
Let n be greater than or equal to 3. We prove that the quaternion group of order 8 is realised as a subgroup of the sphere braid group B\_n(S^2) if and only if n is even. If n is divisible by 4 then the commutator subgroup of B\_n(S^2) contains such a subgroup. Further, for all n greater than or equal to 3, B\_n(S^2) contains a subgroup isomorphic to the dicyclic group of order 4n.
According to the Tits conjecture proved by Crisp and Paris, [CP], the subgroups of the braid group generated by proper powers of the Artin elements are presented by the commutators of generators which are powers of commuting elements. Hence they are naturally presented as right-angled Artin groups. The case of subgroups generated by powers of the band generators is more involved. We show that the groups are right-angled Artin groups again, if all generators are proper powers with exponent at least 3. We also give a presentation in cases at the other extreme, when all generators occur with expo…
We show that many normal subgroups of the braid group modulo its centre, and of the mapping class group of a sphere with marked points, have the property that their automorphism and abstract commensurator groups are mapping class groups of such spheres. As one application, we establish the automorphism groups of each term in the lower central series and derived series of the pure braid group. We also obtain new proofs of results of Dyer-Grossman and Orevkov, showing that the automorphism groups of the braid group and of its commutator subgroup are isomorphic. We then calculate the automorphism…
Our aim is to determine the lower central series (LCS) and derived series (DS) for the braid groups of the sphere and of the finitely-punctured sphere. We show that for all n (resp. all n\geq 5), the LCS (resp. DS) of the n-string braid group B\_n(S^2) is constant from the commutator subgroup onwards, and that Γ\_2(B\_4(S^2)) is a semi-direct product of the quaternion group by a free group of rank 2. For n=4, we determine the DS of B\_4(S^2), as well as its quotients. For n \geq 1, the class of m-string braid groups B\_m(S^2) \ {x\_1,...,x\_n} of the n-punctured sphere includes the Artin braid…
In previous work, joint with Bux, Fluch, Marschler and Witzel, we proved that the braided Thompson groups are of type $\textrm{F}_\infty$. The proof utilized certain contractible cube complexes, which in this paper we prove are CAT(0). We then use this fact to compute the geometric invariants $Σ^m(F_{\textrm{br}})$ of the pure braided Thompson group $F_{\textrm{br}}$. Only the first invariant $Σ^1(F_{\textrm{br}})$ was previously known. A consequence of our computation is that as soon as a subgroup of $F_{\textrm{br}}$ containing the commutator subgroup $[F_{\textrm{br}},F_{\textrm{br}}]$ is f…
For a finite group $G$, the Hurwitz space $\mathcal{H}^{in}_{r,g}(G)$ is the space of genus $g$ covers of the Riemann sphere with $r$ branch points and the monodromy group $G$. In this paper, we give a complete list of primitive genus one systems of affine type. That is, we assume that $G$ is a primitive group of affine type. Under this assumption we determine the braid orbits on the suitable Nielsen classes, which is equivalent to finding connected components in $\mathcal{H}^{in}_{r,1}(G)$. Furthermore, we give a new algorithm for computing large braid orbits on Nielsen classes. This algorith…
Let $SB_n$ be the singular braid group generated by braid generators $σ_i$ and singular braid generators $τ_i$, $1 \leq i \leq n-1$. Let $ST_n$ denote the group that is the kernel of the homomorphism that maps, for each $i$, $σ_i$ to the cyclic permutation $(i, i+1)$ and $τ_i$ to $1$. In this paper we investigate the group $ST_3$. We obtain a presentation for $ST_3$. We prove that $ST_3$ is isomorphic to the singular pure braid group $SP_3$ on $3$ strands. We also prove that the group $ST_3$ is semi-direct product of a subgroup $H$ and an infinite cyclic group, where the subgroup $H$ is an HNN…
In the present paper, for a pair $(G,N)$ of a group $G$ and its normal subgroup $N$, we consider the mixed commutator length $\mathrm{cl}_{G,N}$ on the mixed commutator subgroup $[G,N]$. We focus on the setting of wreath products: $ (G,N)=(\mathbb{Z}\wr Γ, \bigoplus_Γ\mathbb{Z})$. Then we determine mixed commutator lengths in terms of the general rank in the sense of Malcev. As a byproduct, when an abelian group $Γ$ is not locally cyclic, the ordinary commutator length $\mathrm{cl}_G$ does not coincide with $\mathrm{cl}_{G,N}$ on $[G,N]$ for the above pair. On the other hand, we prove that if …
Let n be greater than or equal to 3. We study the quotient group B\_n/[P n,P\_n] of the Artin braid group B\_n by the commutator subgroup of its pure Artin braid group P\_n. We show that B\_n/[P n,P\_n] is a crystallographic group, and in the case n=3, we analyse explicitly some of its subgroups. We also prove that B\_n/[P n,P\_n] possesses torsion, and we show that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the conjugacy classes of the finite-order elements of B\_n/[P n,P\_n] with the conjugacy classes of the elements of odd order of the symmetric group S\_n, and that the isomorphism class …