The homology of the Brauer algebras

Abstract

This paper investigates the homology of the Brauer algebras, interpreted as appropriate Tor-groups, and shows that it is closely related to the homology of the symmetric group. Our main results show that when the defining parameter of the Brauer algebra is invertible, then the homology of the Brauer algebra is isomorphic to the homology of the symmetric group, and that when the parameter is not invertible, this isomorphism still holds in a range of degrees that increases with n.