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7 votes
0 answers
120 views

Normal subgroups of pure braid groups stable under strand bifurcation

$\DeclareMathOperator\PB{PB}\DeclareMathOperator\B{B}$Let $\PB_n$ be the $n$-strand pure braid group. For each $1\le k\le n$, let $\kappa_k^n \colon \PB_n \to \PB_{n+1}$ be the monomorphism that takes ...
12 votes
1 answer
285 views

Artin groups of type $D_n$ as mapping class groups?

According to Allcock (Braid Pictures for Artin groups, https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9907194), the Artin group $A(D_n$) of type $D_n$ may be realized as an index 2 subgroup of the orbifold fundamental ...
21 votes
0 answers
473 views

Are braid groups known to not be linear over $\mathbb{Z}$?

$\DeclareMathOperator\GL{GL}$It is known that every braid group $B_n$ embeds as a subgroup of $\GL_m(\mathbb{Z}[q^{\pm 1},t^{\pm 1}])$, where $m=n(n-1)/2$ (see Krammer - Braid groups are linear). This ...
2 votes
0 answers
139 views

Image of the pure braid group under the Artin presentation into the automorphism group of the nilpotent quotient of a free group?

As I know, it is unknown that the image of the mapping class group of the surface and its Johnson filtration under the higher Johnson homomorphisms. There are a relationship between the mapping class ...
8 votes
1 answer
264 views

Geometric intuition behind Garside's paper?

I apologize in advance for a somewhat wishy-washy question. I just read the paper "The Braid Group and Other Groups" by F. A. Garside in which he solves the conjugacy problem for the braid ...
8 votes
2 answers
695 views

Braid groups and Kazhdan's property (T)

In Nica's dissertation Group actions on median spaces, we can read the following assertion: Braid groups do not contain infinite subgroups satisfying Kazhdan's property (T). This is used in order to ...
10 votes
0 answers
351 views

Finite quotients of surface braid groups

Let $\Sigma_b$ be a closed orientable surface of genus $b \geq 2$, and denote by $\mathsf{P}_2(\Sigma_b)$ the pure braid group with two strands on $\Sigma_b$. There is a braid $A_{12} \in \Sigma_b$ ...
5 votes
1 answer
787 views

The action of the mapping class group of a punctured disk on the boundary at infinity of the universal cover

Let $\mathbb{D}\subset\mathbb{C}$ be the unit disk, and remove $n\geq 2$ of its points $P$. The resulting object will be called the punctured disk $\mathbb{D}_n$ in the following. I am interested in ...
7 votes
1 answer
526 views

Generators of pure braid groups of arbitrary Coxeter groups

Let $W$ be an arbitrary Coxeter group, and let $A$ be the associated Artin-Tits braid group, with standard Coxeter generators $\sigma_i\in A$. Let $P$ be the "pure braid group", the kernel of the ...
1 vote
0 answers
278 views

Homology of spherical braid groups

By the spherical braid group, I mean the fundamental group of the configuration space of distinct unordered points in $S^2$. I am wondering what is known about the group homology of the spherical ...
2 votes
0 answers
211 views

A question of braid words

Let $(W,S)$ be a Coxeter group, let $B(W,S)$ be the corresponding braid or Artin-Tits group. Set $S=\{s_1,\dots, s_n\}$ and denote by $\bf{S}=\{\sigma_1,\dots, \sigma_n\}$ the corresponding generators ...
17 votes
1 answer
832 views

Loop spaces and infinite braids

The Artin braid groups $B_n$ and the symmetric groups $S_n$ are closely related by the maps $1 \to P_n \to B_n \to S_n \to 1$. The infinite symmetric group has interesting interactions with homotopy ...