On the structure of surface pure braid groups

We describe some of the properties of the pure braid groups of surfaces different from and . In the case of compact, connected, orientable surfaces without boundary and of genus at least two, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the splitting of the pure braid group exact sequence of Fadell and Neuwirth, thus answering completely a question of Birman.     

On the structure of surface pure braid groups

We describe some of the properties of the pure braid groups of surfaces different from and . In the case of compact, connected, orientable surfaces without boundary and of genus at least two, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the splitting of the pure braid group exact sequence of Fadell and Neuwirth, thus answering completely a question of Birman.     

Generalised Magnus modules over the braid group

Supported byDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft     

On the inverse braid monoid

Inverse braid monoid describes a structure on braids where the number of strings is not fixed. So, some strings of initial n may be deleted. In the paper we show that many properties and objects based on braid groups may be extended to the inverse braid monoids. Namely we prove an inclusion into a monoid of partial monomorphisms of a free group. This gives a solution of the word problem. Another solution is obtained by an approach similar to that of Garside. We give also the analogues of Artin presentation with two generators and Sergiescu graph-presentations.     

The mod 2 cohomology of the mapping class group of the Klein bottle with marked points

The purpose of this article is to compute the mod 2 cohomology of ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}^q(\mathbb{K})$, the mapping class group of the Klein bottle with q marked points. We provide a concrete construction of Eilenberg–MacLane spaces $X_q=K({\mathrm{\Gamma }}^q(\mathbb{K}),1)$ and fiber bundles $F_q(\mathbb{K})/{\mathrm{\Sigma }}_q\to X_q\to B({\mathbb{Z}}_2\times O(2))$, where $F_q(\mathbb{K})/{\mathrm{\Sigma }}_q$ denotes the configuration space of unordered q-tuples of distinct points in $\mathbb{K}$ and $B({\mathbb{Z}}_2\times O(2))$ is the classifying space of the group ${\mathbb{Z}}_2\times O(2)$. Moreover, we show the mod 2 Serre spectral sequence of the bundle above collapses.     

Homology decompositions for p-compact groups

We construct a homotopy theoretic setup for homology decompositions of classifying spaces of p-compact groups. This setup is then used to obtain a subgroup decomposition for p-compact groups which generalizes the subgroup decomposition with respect to p-stubborn subgroups for a compact Lie group constructed by Jackowski, McClure and Oliver.     

On configuration spaces and Whitehouse's lifts of the Eulerian representations

S. Whitehouse's lifts of the Eulerian representations of ${\mathfrak{S}}_n$ to ${\mathfrak{S}}_{n+1}$ are reinterpreted, topologically and ring-theoretically, building on the first author's work on A. Ocneanu's theory of permutohedral blades.     

The inverse braid monoid

We introduce an inverse monoid which plays a similar role with respect to the symmetric inverse semigroup that the braid group plays with respect to the symmetric group.     

Singularities of the representation variety of the braid group on 3 strands

The singularities of ${\mathtt{rep}}_n{B}_3$ are studied, where $B_3$ is the knot group on 3 strands. Specifically, we determine which semisimple representations are smooth points of ${\mathtt{rep}}_n{B}_3$.     

Algebraic invariants for right-angled Artin groups

A finite simplicial graph Γ determines a right-angled Artin group G_Γ, with generators corresponding to the vertices of Γ, and with a relation υw=wυ for each pair of adjacent vertices. We compute the lower central series quotients, the Chen quotients, and the (first) resonance variety of G_Γ, directly from the graph Γ. Partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0311142.     

Some stable homology calculations and Occam's razor for Hodge structures

Motivated by motivic zeta function calculations, Vakil and Wood in [10] made several conjectures regarding the topology of subspaces of symmetric products. The purpose of this note is to prove two of these conjectures and disprove a strengthening of one of them.     

Disks in trivial braid diagrams

We show that every trivial 3-strand braid diagram contains a disk, defined as a ribbon ending in opposed crossings. Under a convenient algebraic form, the result extends to every Artin-Tits group of dihedral type, but it fails to extend to braids with 4 strands and more. The proof uses a partition of the Cayley graph and a continuity argument.     

On topologizable and non-topologizable groups

A group G   is called hereditarily non-topologizable if, for every H?G$H?G$, no quotient of H admits a non-discrete Hausdorff topology. We construct first examples of infinite hereditarily non-topologizable groups. This allows us to prove that c-compactness does not imply compactness for topological groups. We also answer several other open questions about c-compact groups asked by Dikranjan and Uspenskij. On the other hand, we suggest a method of constructing topologizable groups based on generic properties in the space of marked k-generated groups. As an application, we show that there exist non-discrete quasi-cyclic groups of finite exponent; this answers a question of Morris and Obraztsov.     

Coxeter groups are virtually special

In this paper we prove that every finitely generated Coxeter group has a finite index subgroup that is the fundamental group of a special cube complex. Some consequences include: Every f.g. Coxeter group is virtually a subgroup of a right-angled Coxeter group. Every word-hyperbolic Coxeter group has separable quasiconvex subgroups.     

Automorphisms of groups

The survey presents classical assertions due to Nielsen, Whitehead, and others, well-known theorems on automorphisms included in monographs on group theory, and recent results in this area. Attention is focused on the progress in automorphism groups theory for free, solvable, modular, and profinite groups. New tools of investigation using graphs and geometrical ideas are also discussed.     

On some examples of duality groups

In [1, 3] it was shown: Theorem A. If G is the fundamental group of a finite graph of λ-dimensional duality groups with |G _o(e) : G _e | < ∞ and |G _τ(e) : G _e | < ∞ for every edge e of the corresponding G-tree, then G is an (λ + 1)-dimensional duality group. Here we use the methods of Brown and Geoghegan in [3] to obtain examples of duality groups under weaker conditions than those of Theorem A. Received: 5 June 2007     

Subword complexes in Coxeter groups

Let (Π,Σ) be a Coxeter system. An ordered list of elements in Σ and an element in Π determine a subword complex, as introduced in Knutson and Miller (Ann. of Math. (2) (2003), to appear). Subword complexes are demonstrated here to be homeomorphic to balls or spheres, and their Hilbert series are shown to reflect combinatorial properties of reduced expressions in Coxeter groups. Two formulae for double Grothendieck polynomials, one of which appeared in Fomin and Kirillov (Proceedings of the Sixth Conference in Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics, DIMACS, 1994, pp. 183-190), are recovered in the context of simplicial topology for subword complexes. Some open questions related to subword complexes are presented.     

3-manifolds whose universal coverings are Lie groups

We classify those closed 3-manifolds whose universal covering space naturally admits the structure of a Lie group