IHARA BRAID ACTION // OUTER AUTOMORPHISMS // GROTHENDIECK-TEICHMULLER // PRO-UNIPOTENT GT
Ihara discovered that Gal(Q/Q) acts on the profinite free group F_2^ = pi_1^et(P^1\{0,1,inf}) via outer automorphisms. Each sigma determines (chi(sigma), f(sigma)) where chi is cyclotomic and f lives in the commutator subgroup.
GT^ is defined by pentagon, hexagon, and inversion relations in the profinite free group. Drinfeld proved Gal(Q/Q) embeds into GT^. The conjecture Gal(Q/Q) = GT^ would reduce number theory to coherent deformations of associativity.
M_{0,n+1} -> M_{0,n} forms a tower whose pro-unipotent fundamental groups carry an operad structure. GT acts on the entire tower compatibly. At the bottom, M_{0,4} = P^1\{0,1,inf}. The KZ associator is a special element of GT_1.
The graded Lie algebra grt_1 is generated by sigma_{2n+1} in degree 2n+1. These correspond to odd zeta values. The Drinfeld-Ihara Lie algebra captures the pro-unipotent part of the Galois action.
Pure braid groups PB_n have pro-unipotent completions whose Lie algebras are Drinfeld-Kohno. They arise in deformation quantization and Kontsevich formality.