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Braids and Self-Distributivity 2000 Edition
Contributor(s): Dehornoy, Patrick (Author)
ISBN: 3764363436     ISBN-13: 9783764363437
Publisher: Birkhauser
OUR PRICE:   $104.49  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: July 2000
Qty:
Annotation: This is the award-winning monograph of the Sunyer i Balaguer Prize 1999.

The aim of this book is to present recently discovered connections between Artin's braid groups and left self-distributive systems, which are sets equipped with a binary operation satisfying the identity x(yz) = (xy)(xz). Order properties are crucial.
In the 1980s new examples of left self-distributive systems were discovered using unprovable axioms of set theory, and purely algebraic statements were deduced. The quest for elementary proofs of these statements led to a general theory of self-distributivity centered on a certain group that captures the geometrical properties of this identity. This group happens to be closely connected with Artin's braid groups, and new properties of the braids naturally arose as an application, in particular the existence of a left invariant linear order, which subsequently received alternative topological constructions.
The text proposes a first synthesis of this area of research. Three domains are considered here, namely braids, self-distributive systems, and set theory. Although not a comprehensive course on these subjects, the exposition is self-contained, and a number of basic results are established. In particular, the first chapters include a rather complete algebraic study of Artin's braid groups.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Mathematics | Topology - General
- Medical
Dewey: 514.224
LCCN: 00-44488
Series: Erganzungsbande Zu Den Tituli Asiae Minoris
Physical Information: 1.38" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (2.38 lbs) 623 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
The aim of this book is to present recently discovered connections between Artin's braid groups En and left self-distributive systems (also called LD- systems), which are sets equipped with a binary operation satisfying the left self-distributivity identity x(yz) = (xy)(xz). (LD) Such connections appeared in set theory in the 1980s and led to the discovery in 1991 of a left invariant linear order on the braid groups. Braids and self-distributivity have been studied for a long time. Braid groups were introduced in the 1930s by E. Artin, and they have played an increas- ing role in mathematics in view of their connection with many fields, such as knot theory, algebraic combinatorics, quantum groups and the Yang-Baxter equation, etc. LD-systems have also been considered for several decades: early examples are mentioned in the beginning of the 20th century, and the first general results can be traced back to Belousov in the 1960s. The existence of a connection between braids and left self-distributivity has been observed and used in low dimensional topology for more than twenty years, in particular in work by Joyce, Brieskorn, Kauffman and their students. Brieskorn mentions that the connection is already implicit in (Hurwitz 1891). The results we shall concentrate on here rely on a new approach developed in the late 1980s and originating from set theory.