Combinatorics of normal sequences of braids

Many natural counting problems arise in connection with the normal form of braids--and seem to have never been considered so far. Here we solve some of them by analysing the normality condition in terms of the associated permutations, their descents and the corresponding partitions. A number of different induction schemes appear in that framework

A divisibility result on combinatorics of generalized braids

For every finite Coxeter group $\Gamma$, each positive braids in the corresponding braid group admits a unique decomposition as a finite sequence of elements of $\Gamma$, the so-called Garside-normal form.The study of the associated adjacency matrix $Adj(\Gamma)$ allows to count the number of Garside-normal form of a given length.In this paper we prove that the characteristic polynomial of $Adj(B_n)$ divides the one of $Adj(B_{n+1})$. The key point is the use of a Hopf algebra based on signed permutations. A similar result was already known for the type $A$. We observe that this does not hold for type $D$. The other Coxeter types ($I$, $E$, $F$ and $H$) are also studied.Comment: 28 page

Still another approach to the braid ordering

We develop a new approach to the linear ordering of the braid group $B\_n$, based on investigating its restriction to the set \Div(\Delta\_n^d) of all divisors of $\Delta\_n^d$ in the monoid $B\_\infty^+$, i.e., to positive $n$-braids whose normal form has length at most $d$. In the general case, we compute several numerical parameters attached with the finite orders (\Div(\Delta\_n^d), <). In the case of 3 strands, we moreover give a complete description of the increasing enumeration of (\Div(\Delta\_3^d), <). We deduce a new and specially direct construction of the ordering on $B\_3$, and a new proof of the result that its restriction to $B\_3^+$ is a well-ordering of ordinal type $\omega^\omega$

Unprovability results involving braids

We construct long sequences of braids that are descending with respect to the standard order of braids (``Dehornoy order''), and we deduce that, contrary to all usual algebraic properties of braids, certain simple combinatorial statements involving the braid order are true, but not provable in the subsystems ISigma1 or ISigma2 of the standard Peano system.Comment: 32 page

Laver's results and low-dimensional topology

In connection with his interest in selfdistributive algebra, Richard Laver established two deep results with potential applications in low-dimensional topology, namely the existence of what is now known as the Laver tables and the well-foundedness of the standard ordering of positive braids. Here we present these results and discuss the way they could be used in topological applications

Operads within monoidal pseudo algebras

A general notion of operad is given, which includes as instances, the operads originally conceived to study loop spaces, as well as the higher operads that arise in the globular approach to higher dimensional algebra. In the framework of this paper, one can also describe symmetric and braided analogues of higher operads, likely to be important to the study of weakly symmetric, higher dimensional monoidal structures