The tangledness-reduction conjecture for braid diagrams

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Let DnD_n be a disk with nn punctures, and let β\beta be a braid whose curve diagram contains a round disk with strictly positive interior tangledness. Let β+\beta_+ be a Garside generator or the inverse of a Garside generator that moves only strands inside this round disk and whose action reduces the tangledness of the diagram inside the disk.

Tangledness-reduction conjecture. The product ββ+\beta\beta_+ has smaller τ\tau-length than β\beta.

This claim proposes that locally reducing tangledness by an appropriate Garside generator decreases the global length obtained from the right Garside normal form. Such a practical relationship would support algorithmic approaches to understanding braid length and the construction of efficient representatives; the supplied text does not state whether the claim has been proved or disproved.

References

Primary source

Bert Wiest, “How to read the length of a braid from its curve diagram”, arXiv:0904.0224 (2012).

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