Braid groups of non-orientable surfaces and the Fadell-Neuwirth short exact sequence (Q847156)

Let \(M\) be a compact connected surface and \(n\) a positive integer. The \(n\)-th pure braid group, denoted \(P_n(M)\), is defined to be the fundamental group of the configuration space \(F_n(M)\) of \(n\) distinct points in \(M\). The authors study possible splittings of the Fadell-Neuwirth short exact sequence of pure braid groups: \[ 1\longrightarrow P_m(M\setminus\{x_1,\dots,x_n\})\longrightarrow P_{m+n}(M)\longrightarrow P_n(M) \] where the projection \(P_{m+n}(M)\to P_n(M)\) consists in forgetting the last \(m\) strings of the braid, while \(P_m(M\setminus\{x_1,\dots,x_n\})\) can be seen as the pure braid group associated to the subspace of \(P_{m+n}(M)\) in which the last \(n\) points of the configuration are fixed and equal to \((x_1,\dots,x_n)\). The main result of the paper states that, if \(M\) is a non-orientable closed surface of genus at least \(3\), then the Fadell-Neuwirth exact sequence splits if and only if \(n=1\). The key observation behind its proof is that, if the sequence splits, any other sequence obtained by quotienting \(P_m(M\setminus\{x_1,\dots,x_n\})\) and \(P_{m+n}(M)\) by a normal subgroup of \(P_{m+n}(M)\) contained in \(P_m(M\setminus\{x_1,\dots,x_n\})\) splits, too. Together with previous results this completely solves the problem of determining in which cases the Fadell-Neuwirth exact sequence splits.