On normal subgroups of the braided Thompson groups (Q1747806)

Summary: We inspect the normal subgroup structure of the braided Thompson groups \(V_{\mathrm{br}}\) and \(F_{\mathrm{br}}\). We prove that every proper normal subgroup of \(V_{\mathrm{br}}\) lies in the kernel of the natural quotient \(V_{\mathrm{br}}\twoheadrightarrow V\), and we exhibit some families of interesting such normal subgroups. For \(F_{\mathrm{br}}\), we prove that for any normal subgroup \(N\) of \(F_{\mathrm{br}}\), either \(N\) is contained in the kernel of \(F_{\mathrm{br}}\twoheadrightarrow F\), or else \(N\) contains \([F_{\mathrm{br}},F_{\mathrm{br}}]\). We also compute the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel invariant \(\Sigma^1(F_{\mathrm{br}})\), which is a useful tool for understanding normal subgroups containing the commutator subgroup.