Quantum Topology / Hopf Algebra Seminar
Louis Kauffman
UIC
Braids and Inaccessible Cardinals
Abstract: A magma is a non-associative algebra with one binary operation a,b ---> ab satisfying the axiom of left
distributivity: a(bc) = (ab)(ac). Laver and others first proved that the magma generated by one element is
linearly ordered by left truncation via set theoretic models using higher cardinals. Dehornoy discovered that
one could make much smaller models by embedding this magma in the Artin braid group. This talk will review
the set theoretic considerations and we will construct the Dehornoy embedding in the braid group.
Tuesday February 7, 2017 at 2:00 PM in SEO 612