Braids, posets and orthoschemes.

Authors: Jon McCammond, Tom Brady
Subjects: Group Theory
link: http://arxiv.org/abs/0909.4778
Abstract

In this article we study the curvature properties of the order complex of a
graded poset under a metric that we call the ``orthoscheme metric''. In
addition to other results, we characterize which rank 4 posets have CAT(0)
orthoscheme complexes and by applying this theorem to standard posets and
complexes associated with four-generator Artin groups, we are able to show that
the 5-string braid group is the fundamental group of a compact nonpositively
curved space.