A Garside-theoretic approach to the reducibility problem in braid groups

Abstract

Let D n denote the n-punctured disk in the complex plane, where the punctures are on the real axis. An n-braid α is said to be reducible if there exists an essential curve system C in D n , called a reduction system of α, such that α * C = C where α * C denotes the action of the braid α on the curve system C . A curve system C in D n is said to be standard if each of its components is isotopic to a round circle centered at the real axis. In this paper, we study the characteristics of the braids sending a curve system to a standard curve system, and then the characteristics of the conjugacy classes of reducible braids. For an essential curve system C in D n , we define the standardizer of C as St ( C ) = { P ∈ B n + : P ∗ C is standard } and show that St ( C ) is a sublattice of B n + . In particular, there exists a unique minimal element in St ( C ) . Exploiting the minimal elements of standardizers together with canonical reduction systems of reducible braids, we define the outermost component of reducible braids, and then show that, for the reducible braids whose outermost component is simpler than the whole braid (including split braids), each element of its ultra summit set has a standard reduction system. This implies that, for such braids, finding a reduction system is as easy as finding a single element of the ultra summit set.