Zariski theorems and diagrams for braid groups

David Bessis

Published 2000-10-31, updated 2001-01-17Version 2

Empirical properties of generating systems for complex reflection groups and their braid groups have been observed by Orlik-Solomon and Brou\'e-Malle-Rouquier, using Shephard-Todd classification. We give a general existence result for presentations of braid groups, which partially explains and generalizes the known empirical properties. Our approach is invariant-theoretic and does not use the classification. The two ingredients are Springer theory of regular elements and a Zariski-like theorem.