The Burau representation's surjectivity conjecture

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Let BnB_n be the braid group, let β:Bn→Γ\beta:B_n\to\Gamma be the unreduced Burau representation, and let β′:Bn→Γ′\beta':B_n\to\Gamma' be its reduced representation, where Γ\Gamma is the unitary group associated with Squier's Hermitian form and Γ′\Gamma' is its restriction to the orthogonal complement of the fixed vector. For n⩾5n\geqslant 5, the Burau surjectivity conjecture. There are equalities

β(Bn)=Γ\beta(B_n)=\Gamma

and

β′(Bn)=Γ′.\beta'(B_n)=\Gamma'.

The preceding theorem establishes density of both images in the respective groups for the ss-adic topology, but whether either image equals the full unitary group remains open.

References

Primary source

Nick Salter, “Linear-central filtrations and the image of the Burau representation”, arXiv:1903.11209 (2019).

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