Transfinite braids and left distributive operations (Q1266187)

Let \(B_\infty\) be the inductive limit of the Artin braid groups \(B_n\) with respect to the number of strands \(n\). In this paper, the author expands the group \(B_\infty\) into a certain monoid \(EB_\infty\) by ``adding braids whose first several strands vanish at infinity''. The definition involves a subtle construction using ``\(\theta\)-positive cosets of transfinite braids''. A linear ordering of \(B_\infty\) previously introduced [the author, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 345, No. 1, 115-150 (1994; Zbl 0837.20048)] is extended to one on \(EB_\infty\). Moreover, \(EB_\infty\) is endowed with a natural left-distributive monoid structure, i.e., in addition to the monoid product \(xy\), it has a second binary operation \(^xy\) satisfying \(xy={^xyx}\), \(^{xy}z={^x(^yz)}\), \(^x(yz)={^xy}{^xz}\). Then, it is shown that the exponentiation gives group conjugation on the first copy of \(B_\infty\) in \(EB_\infty\), while it gives the ``bracket operation'' \(\alpha[\beta]=\alpha s(\beta)\sigma_1 s(\alpha^{-1})\) on the second copy ``\(B_\infty\tau_{1,\infty}\)'' of \(B_\infty\) in \(EB_\infty\). (Here \(s\) shifts each generator \(\sigma_i\) to \(\sigma_{i+1}\).) Certain freeness properties of the latter operation had been studied by the author [in loc. cit.], and in this paper those properties are more elaborated in the new light of the above LD-monoid structure.