A study of braids

MaRDI QIDQ4699470zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors K. Murasugi, B. I. Kurpita

Publication date 11 November 1999

zbMATH Keywords

braid homotopy knots links Mexican plaits

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Braid groups; Artin groups (20F36) Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to manifolds and cell complexes (57-02)

Review text

This is a well written, well laid-out and richly illustrated introduction to the theory of braids. The text assumes a working knowledge of mathematics, but also provides detailed appendices for those who are not necessarily working in this area. Each section/subsection begins with motivation for the material that will be presented, thus making it easier to follow the text. Moreover, many exercises are provided (most without solution) to help the reader with new concepts. Difficult concepts and proofs are carefully illustrated with detailed and well presented diagrams harking back to the more intuitive early days of braid theory (to quote the authors). Although the book does cover similar topics to those covered by other introductions to the area, it also contains interesting other subjects. For example, there is an introduction to Mexican plaits (braids that arise in belts worn by Mexican cowboys), finite quotient groups of the braid group that were considered by Coxeter, and the braid groups for the sphere, real projective plane and torus (groups that were studied in the 1960's). The proofs presented in this book are fairly algebraic in nature and, although well motivated with diagrams, are sometimes rather long (in particular, Chapter 3.3, where a presentation for the pure braid group is derived). In this respect, it might have been nice if the last section concerning configuration spaces and topological aspects of braid groups had been longer, and also it would have been helpful if an index of notations had been provided. However, besides these mild criticisms, this book is definitely recommended as an introduction to the theory of braids and related objects. We now present an overview of some of the highlights from each chapter: Chapter 1: Definition of braids (in terms of polygonal segments) and braid equivalence (using elementary moves on segments). Definition of pure braids, and introduction to braid invariants. Chapter 2: Definition of the braid group. The standard presentation of the braid group \(B_n\) of \(n\)-stringed braids is derived (i.e. the presentation with generators \(\sigma_1,\dots,\sigma_{n-1}\) and relations \(\sigma_i \sigma_j = \sigma_j \sigma_i\), \(|i-j |\geq 2\), and \(\sigma_i \sigma_{i+1} \sigma_i = \sigma_{i+1} \sigma_i \sigma_{i+1}\), \(1 \leq i \leq n-2\)). Elementary properties of the braid group are derived (e.g. that the full-twist is in the center of the braid group, and that \(P_n\) -- the pure braid group -- is a normal subgroup of \(B_n\), with \(B_n/P_n\) isomorphic to the symmetric group). The exponent sum of a braid is defined, shown to be a braid invariant and then related to crossing/linking indices. Chapter 3: A solution to the word problem for the braid group is given using combings and the fact that the word problem is solvable for a free group. This relies on proving that the group obtained by allowing only the \(n\)-th string to braid is a free group. This fact is, in turn, used to derive the usual presentation of \(P_n\) using an inductive proof that relies heavily on algebraic manipulations. Chapter 4: Mexican plaits are considered, that is, braids that can, for example, be formed from a piece of leather with several vertical strips cut out of it, by repeatedly weaving itself between these strips. The proper subgroup \(D_n\) of \(P_n\), \(n \geq 2\), consisting of Mexican plaits is then studied, and the problem of deciding when an element in \(P_n\) is also contained \(D_n\) is solved. Chapter 5: Quotient groups of the braid group are considered, namely, the groups \(B_n(k)\), \(n, k\geq 1\), obtained by adjoining the relation \(\sigma_1^k = 1\) to the presentation for the braid group given above. A classical result of Coxeter is stated without proof, which provides necessary and sufficient conditions for when \(B_n(k)\) is finite (which, for \(n,k \geq 3\), is the case if and only if \((n,k) \in \{(3,3),(3,4),(3,5),(4,3),(5,3)\}\)). The order of those \(B_n(k)\) which are finite is then found using the platonic solids, which are encoded as pairs \((n,k)\) where \(n\) corresponds to the number of edges of any face in the solid, and \(k\) the number of faces that meet at each vertex. Chapter 6: Isotopy of braids is introduced, and it is shown that two braids are isotopic if and only if they are equivalent as defined in Chapter 1. It is also shown that one can associate a certain set of words to each braid in the braid group, and that two braids are equivalent if and only if the two sets of words so associated to these braids coincide. This result motivates a short study of the so-called Milnor numbers, numbers that are invariants for pure braids. Chapter 7: The concept of homotopy of braids is introduced (which is distinct from that of isotopy), and the homotopy braid group is defined, i.e. the set of braids that are equivalent under homotopy with the usual composition law. A presentation for the homotopy braid group is determined, homotopy braid invariants are considered, and the relationship between homotopy braids and tangles is explored. Chapter 8: Knots and links are briefly introduced and the notion of equivalence for these objects. The classification of knots is discussed, and Alexander's Theorem is proved i.e. that any oriented link can be represented by a closed braid. Knot invariants are then obtained via this theorem, including one that is derived from minimal presentations of knots (results on which are briefly discussed without proof). Chapter 9: Markov's theorem is proven, a theorem which gives necessary and sufficient conditions for when the closure of two braids represent the same links. The proof presented is attributed to ideas and methods of H. Morton. As an application amphicheiral knots are briefly considered. Chapter 10: The Burau representation of the braid group is introduced and subsequently used together with Markov's theorem to derive the Alexander polynomial, which is shown to be a link invariant. The Jones polynomial is also described and proven to be a link invariant, and the Alexander/Jones polynomials are compared using, for example, amphicheiral knots. Chapter 11: Presentations for the braid groups of the sphere, real projective plane and torus are derived; Dirac's problem is presented as motivation for studying these groups. A solution to the word problem in the braid group of the sphere is given. Chapter 12: A brief introduction to configuration spaces is given, and a theorem due to Gorin and Lin on using braid groups to study the complete solvability of algebraic equations with complex variables is stated without proof, and briefly discussed. Appendices: There are five appendices. Topics covered in these include a review of the group theory used throughout the book (including presentations of groups, and the Reidemeister-Schreier method), some fundamental concepts from topology (including fundamental group and surfaces), the symplectic group, and a proof of some claims made in the text.

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