Two Dimensional Representations of the Braid Group B3 and its Burau Representation Squared

We characterize unitary representations of braid groups $B_n$ of degree linear in $n$ and finite images of such representations of degree exponential in $n$.

We show that the Lawrence-Krammer representation based on two parameters that was used by Bigelow and independently Krammer to show the linearity of the braid group is generically irreducible, but that when its parameters are specialized to some nonzero complex numbers, the representation is reducible. To do so, we construct a representation of the BMW algebra inside the Lawrence-Krammer space. As a representation of the braid group, this representation is equivalent to the L...

The cyclotomic Birman-Murakami-Wenzl (or BMW) algebras B_n^k, introduced by R. Haring-Oldenburg, are extensions of the cyclotomic Hecke algebras of Ariki-Koike, in the same way as the BMW algebras are extensions of the Hecke algebras of type A. In this paper we focus on the case n=2, producing a basis of B_2^k and constructing its left regular representation.

This classification is found by analyzing the action of a normal subgroup of $B_3$ as hyperbolic isometries. This paper gives an example of an unfaithful specialization of the Burau representation on $B_4$ that is faithful when restricted to $B_3$, as well as examples of unfaithful specializations of $B_3$.

For a natural number $n$, denote by $B_n$ the braid group on $n$ strings and by $SM_n$ the singular braid monoid on $n$ strings. $SM_n$ is one of the most important extensions of $B_n$. In [13], Y. Mikhalchishina classified all homogeneous $2$-local representations of $B_n$ for all $n \geq 3$. In this article, we extend the result of Mikhalchishina in two ways. First, we classify all homogeneous $3$-local representations of $B_n$ for all $n \geq 4$. Second, we classify all ho...

We classify the finite dimensional irreducible representations of affine Hecke algebras of type B_2 with unequal parameters.

These are lecture notes prepared for a minicourse given at the Cimpa Research School "Algebraic and geometric aspects of representation theory", held in Curitiba, Brazil in March 2013. The purpose of the course is to provide an introduction to the study of representations of braid groups. Three general classes of representations of braid groups are considered: homological representations via mapping class groups, monodromy representations via the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov connec...

This is an introduction to the braid groups, as presented in the summer school and workshop on braid groups at the National University of Singapore in June 2007.

This work presents an approach towards the representation theory of the braid groups $B_n$. We focus on finite-dimensional representations over the field of Laurent series which can be obtained from representations of infinitesimal braids, with the help of Drinfeld associators. We set a dictionary between representation-theoretic properties of these two structures, and tools to describe the representations thus obtained. We give an explanation for the frequent apparition of u...

Let $C_n$ be the group of conjugating automorphisms. We study the representation $\rho$ of $C_n$, an extension of Lawrence-Krammer representation of the braid group $B_n$, defined by Valerij G. Bardakov. As Bardakov proved that the representation $\rho$ is unfaithful for $n \geq 5$, the cases $n=3,4$ remain open. In our work, we make attempts towards the faithfulness of $\rho$ in the case $n=3$.