Dual Garside structure and reducibility of braids. (Q713409)

The author studies the dual Garside-theoretic approach to the Nielsen-Thurston classification of braids, viewed as mapping classes of the multiply-punctured disk. A simple closed curve \(\gamma\) on the \(n\)-punctured disk \(D_n\) is called standard if the punctures bounded by \(\gamma\) are consecutive. The Garside structure on the braid group \(B_n\) allows one to express each element in a left normal form as \(x=\Delta^px_1\cdots x_r\), where \(\Delta\) is a special element and the \(\{x_i\}\) are certain ``simple elements''. \textit{D. Bernadete, M. Gutierrez} and \textit{Z. Nitecki} [Contemp. Math. 150, 1-31 (1993; Zbl 0804.57005)] proved the following result: let \(\gamma\subset D_n\) be a standard curve and let \(x=\Delta^px_1\cdots x_r\) be a braid in left normal form. If \(x(\gamma)\) is standard, then so is \(\Delta^px_1\cdots x_m(\gamma)\) for \(1\leq m\leq r\). This result allows one to formulate an efficient algorithm to determine whether or not a braid is reducible. Birman, Ko and Lee developed a dual Garside structure, and in the paper under review the author gives a proof of the Bernadete-Gutierrez-Nitecki result for the dual Garside structure.