Representations of braid groups

dc.creatorBigelow, Stephen
dc.date2003-04-15
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T04:56:56Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T04:56:56Z
dc.descriptionIn this paper we survey some work on representations of $B_n$ given by the induced action on a homology module of some space. One of these, called the Lawrence-Krammer representation, recently came to prominence when it was shown to be faithful for all $n$. We will outline the methods used, applying them to a closely related representation for which the proof is slightly easier. The main tool is the Blanchfield pairing, a sesquilinear pairing between elements of relative homology. We discuss two other applications of the Blanchfield pairing, namely a proof that the Burau representation is not faithful for large $n$, and a homological definition of the Jones polynomial. Finally, we discuss possible applications to the representation theory of the Hecke algebra, and ultimately of the symmetric group over fields of non-zero characteristic.
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/math/0304212
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/math/0304212
dc.identifierProceedings of the ICM, Beijing 2002, vol. 2, 37--46
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/67099
dc.subjectGeometric Topology
dc.subject20F36, 20C08
dc.titleRepresentations of braid groups
dc.typetext

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