arXiv research

Invariants defined for braid systems under Hurwitz equivalence.

Proves knots in handlebodies can be represented as plats of braids.

We give two general constructions of braid equivalences which exist between certain deformations of the 2-branched Horsehoe map. We then give numerical evidence suggesting that these constructions of braid equivalences are always realised in the Hénon family.

In this paper we describe braid equivalence for knots and links in a 3-manifold $M$ obtained by rational surgery along a framed link in $S^3$. We first prove a sharpened version of the Reidemeister theorem for links in $M$. We then give geometric formulations of the braid equivalence via mixed braids in $S^3$ using the…

Study four ways to define braided open book decompositions of the 3-sphere.

Virtual braids are a combinatorial generalization of braids. We present abstract braids as equivalence classes of braid diagrams on a surface, joining two distinguished boundary components. They are identified up to isotopy, compatibility, stability and Reidemeister moves. We show that virtual braids are in a bijective…

In this survey paper we present the $L$--moves between braids and how they can adapt and serve for establishing and proving braid equivalence theorems for various diagrammatic settings, such as for classical knots, for knots in knot complements, in c.c.o. 3--manifolds and in handlebodies, as well as for virtual knots, …

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.

In the context of finite type invariants, Stanford introduced a family of equivalence relations on knots defined by the lower central series of the pure braid groups and characterized the finite type invariants in terms of the structure of the braid groups. It is known that this equivalence and Ohyama's equivalence def…

Laundry surfaces for closed braid diagrams are presented. It is shown that braid diagrams are characterized by linking matrices obtained by lifting cycles from these surfaces. Oriented link types are then characterized by equivalence classes of linking matrices. Similar equivalence classes can be composed of Gordon and…

In this paper we prove certain Hurwitz equivalence properties in the braid group. Our main result is that every two factorizations of $Δ_n ^2$ where the elements of the factorization are semi-frame are Hurwitz equivalent. The results of this paper are generalization of the results in \cite{B4}. We use a new presentatio…

Solves double coset problem for braid group H_n.

A knot (or link) diagram is said to be everywhere equivalent if all the diagrams obtained by switching one crossing represent the same knot (or link). We classify such diagrams of a closed 3-braid.

The article finds equivalence moves for links in specific manifolds using plat closure of braids.

We establish a braid of interlocking exact sequences containing the group of homotopy self-equivalences of a smooth or topological 4-manifold. The braid is computed for manifolds whose fundamental group is finite of odd order.

Study of Lorenz links and T-links, showing equivalence and unique presentations.

The notion of a braided chord diagram is introduced and studied. An equivalence relation is given which identifies all braidings of a fixed chord diagram. It is shown that finite-type invariants are stratified by braid index for knots which can be represented as closed 3-braids. Partial results are obtained about spann…

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…

Study Agol cycles for pseudo-Anosov 3-braids.

We discuss the equivalence between the categories of certain ribbon graphs and subgroups of the modular group $Γ$ and use it to construct exponentially large families of not Hurwitz equivalent simple braid monodromy factorizations of the same element. As an application, we also obtain exponentially large families of {\…

Two crossing homomorphisms on braid groups are shown to be equivalent.

We classify 3-braids up to (2,2)-move equivalence and in particular we show how to adjust the Harikae-Nakanishi-Uchida conjecture so it holds for closed 3-braids. As important steps to classify 3-braids up to (2,2)-move equivalence we prove the conjecture for 2-algebraic links and classify (2,2)-equivalence classes for…

We show that two knots have matching Vassiliev invariants of order less than n if and only if they are equivalent modulo the nth group of the lower central series of some pure braid group, thus characterizing Vassiliev's knot invariants in terms of the structure of the braid groups. We also prove some results about kno…

We prove a Markov theorem for tame links in a connected closed orientable 3-manifold $M$ with respect to a plat-like representation. More precisely, given a genus $g$ Heegaard surface $Σ_g$ for $M$ we represent each link in $M$ as the plat closure of a braid in the surface braid group $B_{g,2n}=π_1(C_{2n}(Σ_g))$ and an…

The aim of this paper is to give an $s$-cobordism classification of topological $4$-manifolds in terms of the standard invariants using the group of homotopy self-equivalences. Hambleton and Kreck constructed a braid to study the group of homotopy self-equivalences of $4$-manifolds. Using this braid together with the m…

Classifies orbits of Hurwitz actions on dihedral quandles.

Minimal complexes for two-strand braids defined directly.

Study strong Nielsen equivalence on punctured disc homeomorphisms.

We introduce a notion of "quasi-right-veering" for closed braids, which plays an analogous role to "right-veering" for open books. We show that a transverse link $K$ in a contact 3-manifold $(M,ξ)$ is non-loose if and only if every braid representative of $K$ with respect to every open book decomposition that supports …

Decomposes string links in a surface into prime components.

Research on knots, braids, and their invariants.

Study Agol cycles in pseudo-Anosov 3-braids.

We use the Birman-Ko-Lee presentation of the braid group to show that all closures of strongly quasipositive braids whose normal form contains a positive power of the dual Garside element $δ$ are fibered. We classify links which admit such a braid representative in geometric terms as boundaries of plumbings of positive…

Braidlab is a Matlab package for analyzing data using braids. It was designed to be fast, so it can be used on relatively large problems. It uses the object-oriented features of Matlab to provide a class for braids on punctured disks and a class for equivalence classes of simple closed loops. The growth of loops under …

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 mathem…

For a real oriented hyperplane arrangement, we show that the corresponding Salvetti complex is homotopy equivalent to the complement of the complexified arrangement. This result was originally proved by M. Salvetti. Our proof follows the framework of a proof given by L. Paris and relies heavily on the notation of orien…

We show that the fundamental group of the space of ordered affine-equivalent configurations of at least five points in the real plane is isomorphic to the pure braid group modulo its centre. In the case of four points this fundamental group is free with eleven generators.

New framed moves extend classical knot theory results.

New knot invariant from 3-braids and 6-valent graphs.

Developed algebraic theory of bonded braids, proving Markov theorem.

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 particular we study their homological properties. We prove that the plus-constructi…

Study braid group actions on exceptional sequences using branched coverings.

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.

We discuss a relationship between Khovanov- and Heegaard Floer-type homology theories for braids. Explicitly, we define a filtration on the bordered Heegaard-Floer homology bimodule associated to the double-branched cover of a braid and show that its associated graded bimodule is equivalent to a similar bimodule define…

In this paper we give an algorithm for solving a main case of the conjugacy problem in the braid groups. We also prove that half-twists satisfy a special root property which allows us to reduce the solution for the conjugacy problem in half-twists into the free group. Using this algorithm one is able to check conjugacy…

Algorithm finds plat-equivalence words for genus 2 3-manifolds.

We consider oriented knots and links in a handlebody of genus $g$ through appropriate braid representatives in $S^3$, which are elements of the braid groups $B_{g,n}$. We prove a geometric version of the Markov theorem for braid equivalence in the handlebody, which is based on the $L$-moves. Using this we then prove tw…

In this paper, we define the set of singular grid diagrams $\mathcal{SG}$ which provides a unified description for singular links, singular Legendrian links, singular transverse links, and singular braids. We also classify the complete set of all equivalence relations on $\mathcal{SG}$ which induce the bijection onto e…