arXiv research

Polynomial-time algorithm for virtual braid triviality.

A new invariant for pure braids is defined and shown not to be trivial.

New findings on Jones polynomial for 4-strand braids.

Machine learning classifies braids and discovers new invariants.

A generalization of the topological fundamental group is developed in order to exhibit a topologically complete braid group containing Artin's braid group on infinitely many strands with respect to the following notion of convergence: A sequence of braids b(n) converges to the trivial braid iff for each M>0 eventually …

We show that every trivial 3-strand braid diagram contains a disk, defined as a ribbon ending in opposed crossings. Under a convenient algebraic form, the result extends to every Artin--Tits group of dihedral type, but it fails to extend to braids with 4 strands and more. The proof uses a partition of the Cayley graph …

The paper finds Artin presentations for the trivial group and identifies hyperbolic 3-braids.

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 Deh…

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.

The paper studies hyperbolic geometry of links formed by adding trivial components to knots.

Dehn twists around simple closed curves in oriented surfaces satisfy the braid relations. This gives rise to a group theoretic from the braid group to the mapping class group. We prove here that this map is trivial in stable homology with any trivial coefficients. In particular this proves an old conjecture of J. Harer…

We address the question: Does there exist a non-trivial knot with a trivial Jones polynomial? To find such a knot, it is almost certainly sufficient to find a non-trivial braid on four strands in the kernel of the Burau representation. I will describe a computer algorithm to search for such a braid.

A famous result of Bennequin states that for any braid representative of the unknot the Bennequin number is negative. We will extend this result to all n-trivial closed n-braids. This is a class of infinitely many knots closed under taking mirror images. Our proof relies on a non-standard parametrization of the Homfly …

Positive permutation braids on n strings, which are defined to be positive n-braids where each pair of strings crosses at most once, form the elementary but non-trivial building blocks in many studies of conjugacy in the braid groups. We consider conjugacy among these elementary braids which close to knots, and show th…

Study of quasimorphisms and bounded cohomology in braided Thompson groups.

Study finds smallest non-trivial quotients of braid groups and commutator subgroups.

Characterizes knots with L-space surgeries in 3-sphere and lens spaces.

Let n be a positive integer. We provide a Khovanov homology proof of the following classical fact: If the closure of an n-strand braid is the n-component unlink, then the braid is trivial.

We give a simple characterization of braids that can be unplaited keeping separately their upper ends and their lower ends tied together

We solved a conjecture about braid group quotients being alternating groups.

This paper presents a new exact sequence for orbifold braid groups and mapping class groups.

We prove new results about unknotting fibered positive knots and braids.

Fast algorithm for braid group Hecke representation, applied to knot invariants.

The paper studies knitted surfaces and surface-links, showing their isotopy and closure properties.

Using the Huynh and Le quantum determinant description of the colored Jones polynomial, we construct a new combinatorial description of the colored Jones polynomial in terms of walks along a braid. We then use this description to show that for a knot which is the closure of a positive braid, the first N coefficients of…

Study on transverse invariant from Khovanov homology and its properties.

The paper studies orbifold braid groups and their properties.

We construct several families of embeddings of braid groups into mapping class groups of orientable and non-orientable surfaces and prove that they induce the trivial map in stable homology in the orientable case, but not so in the non-orientable case. We show that these embeddings are non-geometric in the sense that t…

For an oriented surface link $S$, we can take a satellite construction called a 2-dimensional braid over $S$, which is a surface link in the form of a covering over $S$. We demonstrate that 2-dimensional braids over surface links are useful for showing the distinctness of surface links. We investigate non-trivial examp…

We give an explicit geometric argument that Artin's braid group $B_n$ is right-orderable. The construction is elementary, natural, and leads to a new, effectively computable, canonical form for braids which we call left-consistent canonical form. The left-consistent form of a braid which is positive (respectively negat…

New Lissajous-toric knots studied with braid representations.

Paper lifts Artin's representation to loop braid groups topologically.

The paper constructs braiding structures for a specific subfactor.

The study examines when braid groups of manifolds are Kähler.

New link groups are derived from torus necklaces, connecting braid groups to reflection groups.

We consider braids on $m+n$ strands, such that the first $m$ strands are trivially fixed. We denote the set of all such braids by $B_{m,n}$. Via concatenation $B_{m,n}$ acquires a group structure. The objective of this paper is to find a presentation for $B_{m,n}$ using the structure of its corresponding pure braid sub…

The paper studies automorphisms of pure braid groups and their properties.

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 kernels of Burau's representations of the braid groups at roots of unity. Furtherm…

The recent proof by Bigelow and Krammer that the braid groups are linear opens the possibility of applications to the study of knots and links. It was proved by the first author and Menasco that any closed braid representative of the unknot can be systematically simplified to a round planar circle by a sequence of exch…

New rings relate to Soergel categories, categorifying a representation.

The paper classifies virtual knot polynomials and trivalent graph invariants using skein theory.

An embedding of the m-times punctured disc into the n-times punctured disc, for n>m, yields an embedding of the braid group on m strands B_m into the braid group on n strands B_n, called a geometric embedding. The main example consists of adding n-m trivial strands to the right of each braid on m strands. We show that …

We construct the first combinatorial 1-cocycle with values in the $\mathbb{Z} [x,x^{-1}]$-module of isotopy classes of singular long knots in 3-space with a signed planar double point, and which represents a non trivial cohomology class in the topological moduli space of long knots. It can be interpreted as an invaria…

Unknotting numbers for torus knots and links are well known. In this paper, we present a method for determining the position of unknotting number crossing changes in a toric braid B(p, q) such that the closure of the resultant braid is equivalent to the trivial knot or link. Also, we provide a simple proof for the impo…

Study positive braid knots and their taut foliations, proving some L-space conjecture evidence.

We categorify the coefficients of the Burau representation matrix using elementary geometrical methods. We show the faithfulness of this categorification in the sense that it detects the trivial braid.

Study shows fibred knots can't be untied with specific moves.

Study shows surprising cobordism distances between certain torus knots.