Ruth Charney, Brandeis University

A geometric approach to Artin groups

Artin groups arise naturally as fundamental groups of hyperplane complements. They form a large and diverse collection of groups which include braid groups, free groups, free abelian groups and many more. While some classes of Artin groups are well understood, many remain mysterious, with even very basic questions unanswered. In this talk I will review what is known and not known, then discuss some geometric techniques for studying these groups.