Cactus groups, twin groups, and right-angled Artin groups (Q6154427)

Let \(J_{n}\) be the cactus group. There is a morphism \(s\!: J_{n} \rightarrow \mathrm{Sym}(n)\) and \(\ker s =PJ_{n}\) is called the pure cactus group. In the paper under review the authors explore the relations of \(J_{n}\) and \(PJ_{n}\) to right-angled Coxeter groups and, in particular, twin groups \(Tw_{n}\) and Mostovoy's Gauss diagram groups \(D_{n}\). As a consequence they prove the following results. Theorem B (and Theorem 4.4): The cactus groups \(J_{n}\) have no odd torsion. Moreover, for any \(k\), \(J_{2^{k}}\) has torsion of order \(2^{k}\). Theorem C: The pure cactus groups \(PJ_{n}\) are torsion free. Theorem D (and Theorems 4.1 and 4.2): The cactus group \(J_{n}\) is centerless whenever \(n > 2\). The pure cactus subgroup \(PJ_{n}\) has trivial centralizer in \(J_{n}\) whenever \(n > 3\). (In particular \(PJ_{n}\) is centerless whenever \(n > 3\).) In addition, the authors yield a \(1\)-relator presentation of the first non-abelian pure cactus group \(PJ_{4}\) with an explicit expressions of the generators in terms of the generators of the whole cactus group \(J_{4}\).