Commutator Subgroups of Singular Braid Groups

Abstract

The singular braids with $n$ strands, $n \geq 3$, were introduced independently by Baez and Birman. It is known that the monoid formed by the singular braids is embedded in a group that is known as singular braid group, denoted by $SG_n$. There has been another generalization of braid groups, denoted by $GVB_n$, $n \geq 3$, which was introduced by Fang as a group of symmetries behind quantum quasi-shuffle structures. The group $GVB_n$ simultaneously generalizes the classical braid group, as well as the virtual braid group on $n$ strands. We investigate the commutator subgroups $SG_n'$ and $GVB_n'$ of these generalized braid groups. We prove that $SG_n'$ is finitely generated if and only if $n \ge 5$, and $GVB_n'$ is finitely generated if and only if $n \ge 4$. Further, we show that both $SG_n'$ and $GVB_n'$ are perfect if and only if $n \ge 5$.