Group invariants of links (Q1196974)

There is a well-known representation of the braid group \(B_ n\) on the group \(\text{Aut}(F_ n)\) due to Artin, which is defined geometrically by considering the homeomorphism of the \(n\)-punctured disc determined by each braid. In this article the author considers other simple representations of \(B_ n\) on \(\text{Aut}(F_ n)\) in which the elementary braid \(\sigma_ i\) does not affect the generators \(x_ j\) of \(F_ n\) with \(j\neq i\), \(i+1\). For such a representation \(\rho\) the braid \(b\) determines a group with presentation \(\langle x_ 1,\dots,x_ n\mid \rho(b)x_ i=x_ i\rangle\); when \(\rho\) is Artin's representation this group is the fundamental group of the link \(\hat b\), the closure of the braid \(b\). The paper is concerned with analyzing those representations \(\rho\) for which the resulting group depends only on the link \(\hat b\), rather than on the braid \(b\), and in identifying the group in terms of spaces constructible from the link. Among the representations considered three are found which depend only on the link. The groups in two of these cases are shown to be related to those of early constructed spaces, while the third remains to be explored further.