April 30, 2019
Moyi Tian '19 will present "Maypole Braids: An Analysis Using the Annular Braid Group". Lunch provided and everyone welcome to attend.
We use mathematical braids to analyze maypole dances practiced in European May Day festivals. The study of braids started in the early 20th century with the motivation of revealing properties of knots and links. The Artin braid group gives an algebraic tool to analyze the braid actions and the equivalence of braids. Later, a variation of ordinary braids, the annular braids, was introduced with additional rules added. In this research, we give three presentations to describe the annular braid group. We also use the annular braid group as a medium to abstract the braids in maypole dances and therefore apply an algebraic analysis. Finally, we discuss some essential properties embedded in the maypole braids, which are related to the invariants of annular braids - the minimum number of crossings and the minimum number of steps.
Further information
- Location: Tome 115
- Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
- Cost: Free