On the Action of the Symmetric Group on the Cohomology of Groups Related to (Virtual) Braids

In this paper we consider the cohomology of four groups related to the virtual braids of [Kauffman] and [Goussarov-Polyak-Viro], namely the pure and non-pure virtual braid groups (PvB_n and vB_n, respectively), and the pure and non-pure flat braid groups (PfB_n and fB_n, respectively). The cohomologies of PvB_n and PfB_n admit an action of the symmetric group S_n. We give a description of the cohomology modules H^i(PvB_n,Q) and H^i(PfB_n,Q) as sums of S_n-modules induced from certain one-dimensional representations of specific subgroups of S_n. This in particular allows us to conclude that H^i(PvB_n,Q) and H^i(PfB_n,Q) are uniformly representation stable, in the sense of [Church-Farb]. We also give plethystic formulas for the Frobenius characteristics of these S_n-modules. We then derive a number of constraints on which S_n irreducibles may appear in H^i(PvB_n,Q) and H^i(PfB_n,Q). In particular, we show that the multiplicity of the alternating representation in H^i(PvB_n,Q) and H^i(PfB_n,Q) is identical, and moreover is nil for sufficiently large $n$. We use this to recover the (previously known) fact that the multiplicity of the alternating representation in H^i(PB_n,Q) is nil (here PB_n is the ordinary pure braid group). We also give an explicit formula for H^i(vB_n,Q) and show that H^i(fB_n,Q)=0. Finally, we give Hilbert series for the character of the action of S_n on H^i(PvB_n,Q) and H^i(PfB_n,Q). An extension of the standard `Koszul formula' for the graded dimension of Koszul algebras to graded characters of Koszul algebras then gives Hilbert series for the graded characters of the respective quadratic dual algebras.