K(,1) and word problems for infinite type Artin-Tits groups, and applications to virtual braid groups.

Publication date 19 December 2012

Abstract: Let

G a m m a

be a Coxeter graph, let

(W, S)

be its associated Coxeter system, and let

(A, S i g m a

) be its associated Artin-Tits system. We regard

W

as a reflection group acting on a real vector space

V

. Let

I

be the Tits cone, and let

E_{G} a m m a

be the complement in

I + i V

of the reflecting hyperplanes. Recall that Charney, Davis, and Salvetti have constructed a simplicial complex

O m e g a (G a m m a)

having the same homotopy type as

E_{G} a m m a

. We observe that, if

T s u b s e t S

, then

O m e g a (G a m m a_{T})

naturally embeds into

O m e g a (G a m m a)

. We prove that this embedding admits a retraction

p i_{T} : O m e g a (G a m m a) o O m e g a (G a m m a_{T})

, and we deduce several topological and combinatorial results on parabolic subgroups of

A

. From a family

S S

of subsets of

S

having certain properties, we construct a cube complex

P h i

, we show that

P h i

has the same homotopy type as the universal cover of

E_{G} a m m a

, and we prove that

P h i

is CAT(0) if and only if

S S

is a flag complex. We say that

X s u b s e t S

is free of infinity if

G a m m a_{X}

has no edge labeled by

i n f t y

. We show that, if

E_{G a m m a_{X}}

is aspherical and

A_{X}

has a solution to the word problem for all

X s u b s e t S

free of infinity, then

E_{G} a m m a

is aspherical and

A

has a solution to the word problem. We apply these results to the virtual braid group

V B_{n}

. In particular, we give a solution to the word problem in

V B_{n}

, and we prove that the virtual cohomological dimension of

V B_{n}

is

n - 1

.

Recommendations

Cites work

Cited in

(31)

This page was built for publication: \(K(\pi,1)\) and word problems for infinite type Artin-Tits groups, and applications to virtual braid groups.