Torsion subgroups of quasi-abelianized braid groups (Q2182334)

Let \(V\) be a finite dimensional complex vector space and \(W\leq \mathrm{GL}(V)\) be an irreducible complex reflection group. Let \(\mathcal{A}\) be the the reflection hyperplanes for \(W\) and \(V^{\mathrm{reg}} = V\setminus \bigcup_{H\in \mathcal{A}}H\). For \(x_{0}\in V^{\mathrm{reg}} \) let \(P = \pi_{1}(V^{\mathrm{reg}},x_{0})\) be the pure braid group of \(W\) and \(B= \pi_{1}(V^{\mathrm{reg}}/W,\bar{x_{0}})\), where \(\bar{x_{0}}\) is the image of \(x_{0}\) in \(V^{\mathrm{reg}}/W\). The defining exact sequence \[ 1\,\longrightarrow\,P\, \longrightarrow\,B\, \longrightarrow\,W\, \longrightarrow\,1\] induces the abelian extention of \(W\) \[ 0\,\longrightarrow\,P^{ab}\,\stackrel{i}{ \longrightarrow}\,B/[p,\,p]\,\stackrel{p}{ \longrightarrow}\,W\, \longrightarrow\,1\] In the paper under consideration, a criterion (Theorem 2.1) is given for a subgroup of \(W\) to embed in \(B/[P,\,P]\). Interesting are the applications of the theorem. For example, if \(W\) is the symmetric group \(S_{n}\) or the standard braid group \(B_{n}\), then all finite subgroups of \(B/[P,P]\) are described (Corollary 7 and Proposition 2). More precisely, it is proved that all odd-order subgroups of \(S_{n}\) can be embedded in \(B/[P,\,P]\). In Corollary 6 it is given a complete list of irreducible reflection groups such that \(B/[P,\,P]\) is a Bieberbach group. If \((B_{n})_{n\in \mathbb{N}}\) is the family of standard braid groups on \(n\) strands and \((P_{n})_{n\in \mathbb{N}}\) the family of pure braid groups on \(n\) strands, then the direct limits \(B_{\infty }\) and \(P_{\infty}\) are defined respectively. These two direct limits are compatible. So, the inverse limit of the family \((B_{n}/[P_{n},\,P_{n}])_{n\in \mathbb{N}}\) is defined and it coincides with \(B_{\infty}/[P_{\infty},\,P_{\infty}]\). In Proposition 1, it is proved that every odd-order group can be embedded in \(B_{\infty}/[P_{\infty},\,P_{\infty}]\). Moreover, \(B_{\infty}/[P_{\infty},\,P_{\infty}]\) does not contains elements of even order. The fact that every odd-order subgroup of \(S_{n}\) can be embedded in \(B_{n}/[P_{n},\,P_{n}]\) allows the authors to describe some odd-order subgroups of a finite symmetric group and verify that these groups do not meet any stabilizer of a hyperplane (these are the subgroups which act freely on \(\mathcal{A}\)). In the last paragraph of the paper, the authors describe the abelianization of \(p^{-1}(G)\) of a subgroup of \(W\). This generalizes the results on the abelianization of \(P\) and \(B\) (corresponding to \(G\,=\,1\) and \(G\,=\,W\)). More precisely, it is proved that \[ p^{-1}(G)^{ab}\,\simeq \mathbb{Z}\mathcal{A}/G\oplus\mathrm{Hom}_{gr.}(G,\,\mathbb{C}^{\times})/\mathrm{Hom}_{gr.}(G,\,\mathbb{C}^{\times})_{r}\,\,,\] where the the subgroup \(\mathrm{Hom}_{gr.}(G,\,\mathbb{C}^{\times})_{r}\) is defined in Definition 1. These results generalize results in [\textit{V. Beck}, Manuscr. Math. 136, No. 3--4, 273--293 (2011; Zbl 1241.20038)].