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On the model of simple braids, defined to be the left divisors of Garside's elements $\Delta\_n$ in the monoid $B\_\infty^+$ , we investigate simple elements in Thompson's monoid $F^+$ and in a larger monoid $H^+$ that is a hybrid of $B\_\infty^+$ and $F^+$ : in both cases, we count how many simple elements left divide the right lcm of the first n -- 1 atoms, and characterize their normal forms in terms of forbidden factors. In the case of $H^+$, a generalized Pascal triangle appears.

We establish a new, fairly general cancellativity criterion for a presented monoid that properly extends the previously known related criteria. It is based on a new version of the word transformation called factor reversing, and its specificity is to avoid any restriction on the number of relations in the presentation. As an application, we deduce the cancellativity of some natural extension of Artin's braid monoid in which crossings are colored.

The braids of $B\_\infty$ can be equipped with a selfdistributive operation $\mathbin{\triangleright}$ enjoying a number of deep properties. This text is a survey of known properties and open questions involving this structure, its quotients, and its extensions.

We survey a few of the many results now known about the self-distributivity law and selfdistributive structures, with a special emphasis on the associated word problems and the algorithms solving them in good cases.

We investigate the padded version of reduction, an extension of multifraction reduction as defined in arXiv:1606.08991, and connect it both with ordinary reduction and with the so-called Property $\mathrm{H}$. As an application, we show that all Artin-Tits groups of sufficiently large type satisfy some weakening Conjecture $\mathrm{A^{padded}}$ of Conjecture $\mathrm{A}$, thus showing that the reduction approach is relevant for these groups., Comment: 18 pages

We investigate gcd-monoids, which are cancellative monoids in which any two elements admit a left and a right gcd, and the associated reduction of multifractions (arXiv:1606.08991 and 1606.08995), a general approach to the word problem for the enveloping group. Here we consider the particular case of interval monoids associated with finite posets. In this way, we construct gcd-monoids, in which reduction of multifractions has prescribed properties not yet known to be compatible: semi-convergence of reduction without convergence, semi-convergence up to some level but not beyond, non-embeddability into the enveloping group (a strong negation of semi-convergence)., Comment: 23 pages ; v2 : cross-references updated ; v3 : one example added, typos corrected; final version due to appear in Journal of Combinatorial Algebra

We describe a new approach to the Word Problem for Artin-Tits groups and, more generally, for the enveloping group U(M) of a monoid M in which any two elements admit a greatest common divisor. The method relies on a rewrite system R(M) that extends free reduction for free groups. Here we show that, if M satisfies what we call the 3-Ore condition about common multiples, what corresponds to type FC in the case of Artin-Tits monoids, then the system R(M) is convergent. Under this assumption, we obtain a unique representation result for the elements of U(M), extending Ore's theorem for groups of fractions and leading to a solution of the Word Problem of a new type. We also show that there exist universal shapes for the van Kampen diagrams of the words representing 1., Comment: 29 pages ; v2 : cross-references updated ; v3 : typos corrected; final version due to appear in Journal of Combinatorial Algebra

Multifraction reduction is a new approach to the word problem for Artin-Tits groups and, more generally, for the enveloping group of a monoid in which any two elements admit a greatest common divisor. This approach is based on a rewrite system ("reduction") that extends free group reduction. In this paper, we show that assuming that reduction satisfies a weak form of convergence called semi-convergence is sufficient for solving the word problem for the enveloping group, and we connect semi-convergence with other conditions involving reduction. We conjecture that these properties are valid for all Artin-Tits monoids, and provide partial results and numerical evidence supporting such conjectures., Comment: 41 pages , v2 : cross-references updated , v3 : exposition improved, typos corrected, final version due tu appear in Journal of Combinatorial Algebra

Starting from the seminal example of the greedy normal norm in braid monoids, we analyse the mechanism of the normal form in a Garside monoid and explain how it extends to the more general framework of Garside families. Extending the viewpoint even more, we then consider general quadratic normalisation procedures and characterise Garside normalisation among them., Comment: 30 pages

In the general context of presentations of monoids, we study normalisation processes that are determined by their restriction to length-two words. Garside's greedy normal forms and quadratic convergent rewriting systems, in particular those associated with the plactic monoids, are typical examples. Having introduced a parameter, called the class and measuring the complexity of the normalisation of length-three words, we analyse the normalisation of longer words and describe a number of possible behaviours. We fully axiomatise normalisations of class (4, 3), show the convergence of the associated rewriting systems, and characterise those deriving from a Garside family., Comment: 27 pages

This text consists of additions to the book "Foundations of Garside Theory", EMS Tracts in Mathematics, vol. 22 (2015) -- see introduction and table of contents in arXiv:1309.0796 -- namely skipped proofs and solutions to selected exercises.

We show that every finitely generated Artin-Tits group admits a finite Garside family, by introducing the notion of a low element in a Coxeter group and proving that the family of all low elements in a Coxeter system (W, S) with S finite includes S and is finite and closed under suffix and join with respect to the right weak order.

We count the n-strand braids whose normal decomposition has length at most two in the dual braid monoid B_n+* by reducing the question to a computation of free cumulants for a product of independent variables, for which we establish a general formula.

Building on a result by W. Rump, we show how to exploit the right-cyclic law (x.y).(x.z) = (y.x).(y.z) in order to investigate the structure groups and monoids attached with (involutive nondegenerate) set-theoretic solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation. We develop a sort of right-cyclic calculus, and use it to obtain short proofs for the existence both of the Garside structure and of the I-structure of such groups. We describe finite quotients that exactly play for the considered groups the role that Coxeter groups play for Artin-Tits groups.

In connection with his interest in selfdistributive algebra, Richard Laver established two deep results with potential applications in low-dimensional topology, namely the existence of what is now known as the Laver tables and the well-foundedness of the standard ordering of positive braids. Here we present these results and discuss the way they could be used in topological applications.

We determine all 2- and 3-cocycles for Laver tables, an infinite sequence of finite structures obeying the left-selfdistributivity law; in particular, we describe simple explicit bases. This provides a number of new positive braid invariants and paves the way for further potential topological applications. Incidentally, we establish and study a partial ordering on Laver tables given by the right-divisibility relation.

This text consists of the introduction, table of contents, and bibliography of a long manuscript (703 pages) that is currently submitted for publication. This manuscript develops an extension of Garside's approach to braid groups and provides a unified treatment for the various algebraic structures that appear in this context. The complete text can be found at http://www.math.unicaen.fr/~garside/Garside.pdf.

We attach with every finite, involutive, nondegenerate set-theoretic solution of the Yang--Baxter equation a finite group that plays for the associated structure group the role that a finite Coxeter group plays for the associated Artin--Tits group.

Garside calculus is the common mechanism that underlies a certain type of normal form for the elements of a monoid, a group, or a category. Originating from Garside's approach to Artin's braid groups, it has been extended to more and more general contexts, the latest one being that of categories and what are called Garside families. One of the benefits of this theory is to lead to algorithms solving effectively the naturally occurring problems, typically the Word Problem. The aim of this paper is to present and solve these algorithmic questions in the new extended framework.

Garside families have recently emerged as a relevant context for extending results involving Garside monoids and groups, which themselves extend the classical theory of (generalized) braid groups. Here we establish various characterizations of Garside families, that is, equivalently, various criteria for establishing the existence of normal decompositions of a certain type.

We describe a simple scheme for constructing finitely generated monoids in which left-divisibility is a linear ordering and for practically investigating these monoids. The approach is based on subword reversing, a general method of combinatorial group theory, and connected with Garside theory, here in a non-Noetherian context. As an application we describe several families of ordered groups whose space of left-invariant orderings has an isolated point, including torus knot groups and some of their amalgamated products., Comment: updated version with new results

We conjecture that the word problem of Artin-Tits groups can be solved without introducing trivial factors ss^{-1} or s^{-1}s. Here we make this statement precise and explain how it can be seen as a weak form of hyperbolicity. We prove the conjecture in the case of Artin-Tits groups of type FC, and we discuss various possible approaches for further extensions, in particular a syntactic argument that works at least in the right-angled case.

We investigate the connection between Tamari lattices and the Thompson group F, summarized in the fact that F is a group of fractions for a certain monoid F+sym whose Cayley graph includes all Tamari lattices. Under this correspondence, the Tamari lattice operations are the counterparts of the least common multiple and greatest common divisor operations in F+sym. As an application, we show that, for every n, there exists a length l chain in the nth Tamari lattice whose endpoints are at distance at most 12l/n., Comment: 35pages

We summarize the main known results involving subword reversing, a method of semigroup theory for constructing van Kampen diagrams by referring to a preferred direction. In good cases, the method provides a powerful tool for investigating presented (semi)groups. In particular, it leads to cancellativity and embeddability criteria for monoids and to efficient solutions for the word problem of monoids and groups of fractions.

We give a simple naming argument for establishing lower bounds on the combinatorial distance between (positive) braid words.

We prove that the combinatorial distance between any two reduced expressions of a given permutation of {1, ..., n} in terms of transpositions lies in O(n^4), a sharp bound. Using a connection with the intersection numbers of certain curves in van Kampen diagrams, we prove that this bound is sharp, and give a practical criterion for proving that the derivations provided by the reversing algorithm of [Dehornoy, JPAA 116 (1997) 115-197] are optimal. We also show the existence of length l expressions whose reversing requires C l^4 elementary steps.

We develop combinatorial methods for computing the rotation distance between binary trees, i.e., equivalently, the flip distance between triangulations of a polygon. As an application, we prove that, for each n, there exist size n trees at distance 2n - O(sqrt(n)).

In connection with the emerging theory of Garside categories, we develop the notions of a left-Garside category and of a locally left-Garside monoid. In this framework, the connection between the self-distributivity law LD and braids amounts to the result that a certain category associated with LD is a left-Garside category, which projects onto the standard Garside category of braids. This approach leads to a realistic program for establishing the Embedding Conjecture of [Dehornoy, Braids and Self-distributivity, Birkhauser (2000), Chap. IX].

We construct long sequences of braids that are descending with respect to the standard order of braids (``Dehornoy order''), and we deduce that, contrary to all usual algebraic properties of braids, certain simple combinatorial statements involving the braid order are true, but not provable in the subsystems ISigma1 or ISigma2 of the standard Peano system., Comment: 32 pages

We describe the most efficient solutions to the word problem of Artin's braid group known so far, i.e., in other words, the most efficient solutions to the braid isotopy problem, including the Dynnikov method, which could be especially suitable for cryptographical applications. Most results appear in literature; however, some results about the greedy normal form and the symmetric normal form and their connection with grid diagrams may have never been stated explicitly.

We describe new types of normal forms for braid monoids, Artin-Tits monoids, and, more generally, for all monoids in which divisibility has some convenient lattice properties (``locally Garside monoids''). We show that, in the case of braids, one of these normal forms coincides with the normal form introduced by Burckel and deduce that the latter can be computed easily. This approach leads to a new, simple description for the standard ordering (``Dehornoy order'') of Bn in terms of that of B(n-1), and to a quadratic upper bound for the complexity of this ordering.

We describe several technical tools that prove to be efficient for investigating the rewrite systems associated with a family of algebraic laws, and might be useful for more general rewrite systems. These tools consist in introducing a monoid of partial operators, listing the monoid relations expressing the possible local confluence of the rewrite system, then introducing the group presented by these relations, and finally replacing the initial rewrite system with a internal process entirely sitting in the latter group. When the approach can be completed, one typically obtains a practical method for constructing algebras satisfying prescribed laws and for solving the associated word problem.

Conjugacy is not the only possible primitive for designing braid-based protocols. To illustrate this principle, we describe a Fiat--Shamir-style authentication protocol that be can be implemented using any binary operation that satisfies the left self-distributive law. Conjugation is an example of such an operation, but there are other examples, in particular the shifted conjugation on Artin's braid group B\_oo, and the finite Laver tables. In both cases, the underlying structures have a high combinatorial complexity, and they lead to difficult problems.

Many natural counting problems arise in connection with the normal form of braids--and seem to have never been considered so far. Here we solve some of them by analysing the normality condition in terms of the associated permutations, their descents and the corresponding partitions. A number of different induction schemes appear in that framework.

Define an augmented LD-system, or ALD-system, to be a set equipped with two binary operations, one satisfying the left self-distributivity law $x * (y * z) = (x * y) * (x * z)$ and the other satisfying the mixed laws $(x o y) * z = x * (y * z)$ and $x * (y o z) = (x * y) o (x * z)$. We solve the word problem of the ALD laws, and prove that every element in the parenthesized braid group $B\_\bullet$ of [Bri1, Dhb, Dhe] generates a free ALD-system of rank 1, thus getting a concrete realization of the latter structure.

We develop a new approach to the linear ordering of the braid group $B\_n$, based on investigating its restriction to the set $\Div(\Delta\_n^d)$ of all divisors of $\Delta\_n^d$ in the monoid $B\_\infty^+$, i.e., to positive $n$-braids whose normal form has length at most $d$. In the general case, we compute several numerical parameters attached with the finite orders $(\Div(\Delta\_n^d), <)$. In the case of 3 strands, we moreover give a complete description of the increasing enumeration of $(\Div(\Delta\_3^d), <)$. We deduce a new and specially direct construction of the ordering on $B\_3$, and a new proof of the result that its restriction to $B\_3^+$ is a well-ordering of ordinal type $\omega^\omega$.

It has been conjectured that in a braid group, or more generally in a Garside group, applying any sequence of monotone equivalences and word reversings can increase the length of a word by at most a linear factor depending on the group presentation only. We give a counter-example to this conjecture, but, on the other hand, we establish length upper bounds for the case when only right reversing is involved. We also state a new conjecture which would, like the above one, imply that the space complexity of the handle reduction algorithm is linear.

We prove that Thompson's groups $F$ and $V$ are the geometry groups of associativity, and of associativity together with commutativity, respectively. We deduce new presentations of $F$ and $V$. These presentations lead to considering a certain subgroup of $V$ and an extension of this subgroup. We prove that the latter are the geometry groups of associativity together with the law $x(yz) = y(xz)$, and of associativity together with a twisted version of this law involving self-distributivity, respectively.

We investigate a group $B\_\bullet$ that includes Artin's braid group $B\_\infty$ and Thompson's group $F$. The elements of $B\_\bullet$ are represented by braids diagrams in which the distances between the strands are not uniform and, besides the usual crossing generators, new rescaling operators shrink or strech the distances between the strands. We prove that $B\_\bullet$ is a group of fractions, that it is orderable, admits a non-trivial self-distributive structure, i.e., one involving the law $x(yz)=(xy)(xz)$, embeds in the mapping class group of a sphere with a Cantor set of punctures, and that Artin's representation of $B\_\infty$ into the automorphisms of a free group extends to $B\_\bullet$.

We improve and shorten the argument given in(Journal of Algebra, vol.~210 (1998) pp~291--297). Inparticular, the fact that Artin braid groups are torsion free now follows from Garside\'s results almost immediately.

We show that every trivial 3-strand braid diagram contains a disk, defined as a ribbon ending in opposed crossings. Under a convenient algebraic form, the result extends to every Artin--Tits group of dihedral type, but it fails to extend to braids with 4 strands and more. The proof uses a partition of the Cayley graph and a continuity argument.

A number of properties of spherical Artin groups extend to Garside groups, defined as the groups of fractions of monoids where least common multiples exist, there is no nontrivial unit, and some additional finiteness conditions are satisfied \cite{Dgk}. Here we investigate a wider class of groups of fractions, called {\it thin}, which are those associated with monoids where minimal common multiples exist, but they are not necessarily unique. Also, we allow units in the involved monoids. The main results are that all thin groups of fractions satisfy a quadratic isoperimetric inequality, and that, under some additional hypotheses, they admit an automatic structure.

A combinatorial property of prositive group presentations, called completeness, is introduced, with an effective criterion for recognizing complete presentations, and an iterative method for completing an incomplete presentation. We show how to directly read several properties of the associated monoid and group from a complete presentation: cancellativity or existence of common multiples in the case of the monoid, or isoperimetric inequality in the case of the group. In particular, we obtain a new criterion for recognizing that a monoid embeds in a group of fractions. Typical presentations eligible for the current approach are the standard presentations of the Artin groups and the Heisenberg group.

We describe new combinatorial methods for constructing an explicit free resolution of Z by ZG-modules when G is a group of fractions of a monoid where enough least common multiples exist (``locally Gaussian monoid''), and, therefore, for computing the homology of G. Our constructions apply in particular to all Artin groups of finite Coxeter type, so, as a corollary, they give new ways of computing the homology of these groups.

We solve the word problem of the identity $x(yz) = (xy)(yz)$ by investigating a certain group describing the geometry of that identity. We also construct a concrete realization of the free system of rank~1 relative to the above identity

Define a Garside monoid to be a cancellative monoid where right and left lcm's exist and that satisfy additional finiteness assumptions, and a Garside group to be the group of fractions of a Garside monoid. The family of Garside groups contains the braid groups, all spherical Artin groups, and various generalizations previously considered (In particular, the Garside groups considered in [1,7] are special cases of those considered here; the latter had been called "small Gaussian" in earlier works; the name has been changed in order to uniformize the terminology with works by Bessis, Charney, Michel, and other authors). Here we prove that Garside groups are biautomatic, and that being a Garside group is a recursively enumerable property, i.e., there exists an algorithm constructing the (infinite) list of all small Gaussian groups. The latter result relies on an effective, tractable method for recognizing those presentations that define a Garside monoid.