%0 Journal Article %T On the structure of braid groups on complexes %A Byung Hee An %A Hyo Won Park %J Mathematics %D 2015 %I arXiv %X We consider the braid groups $\mathbf{B}_n(X)$ on finite simplicial complexes $X$, which are generalizations of those on both manifolds and graphs that have been studied already by many authors. We figure out the relationships between geometric decompositions for $X$ and their effects on braid groups, and provide an algorithmic way to compute the group presentations for $\mathbf{B}_n(X)$ with the aid of them. As applications, we give complete criteria for both the surface embeddability and planarity for $X$, which are the torsion-freeness of the braid group $\mathbf{B}_n(X)$ and its abelianization $H_1(\mathbf{B}_n(X))$, respectively. %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.03699v1