On the quotient of the braid group by commutators of transversal half-twists and its group actions (Q1361374)

The paper presents and describes the quotient of the Artin braid group by the subgroup normally generated by commutators of braids of some special kind. The author defines these braids and calls them transversal half-twists. The author denotes the quotient by \(\widetilde B_n\) and refers to the groups that admit an action of \(\widetilde B_n\) as \(\widetilde B_n\)-groups. As the author notes, \(\widetilde B_n\)-groups are important in describing fundamental groups of complements of branch curves. The paper investigates the group \(\widetilde B_n\) and \(\widetilde B_n\)-groups. It is shown that \(\widetilde B_n\) is an extension of a solvable group by a symmetric group. The author introduces special elements in \(\widetilde B_n\)-groups that he calls prime elements and gives a criterion for an element to be prime. Prime elements and the criterion are useful in investigating the group \(\widetilde B_n\) and \(\widetilde B_n\)-groups.