Braid Groups

Braids and braid groups, the focus of this text, have been at the heart of important mathematical developments over the last two decades. Their association with permutations has led to their presence in a number of mathematical fields and physics. As central objects in knot theory and 3-dimensional topology, braid groups has led to the creation of a new field called quantum topology. In this well-written presentation, motivated by numerous examples and problems, the authors introduce the basic t