Splicing braid varieties

Abstract: For a positive braid $\beta \in \mathrm{Br}^{+}_{k}$, we consider the braid variety $X(\beta)$. We define a family of open sets $\mathcal{U}{r, w}$ in $X(\beta)$, where $w \in S_k$ is a permutation and $r$ is a positive integer no greater than the length of $\beta$. For fixed $r$, the sets $\mathcal{U}{r, w}$ form an open cover of $X(\beta)$. We conjecture that $\mathcal{U}{r,w}$ is given by the nonvanishing of some cluster variables in a single cluster for the cluster structure on $\mathbb{C}[X(\beta)]$ and that $\mathcal{U}{r,w}$ admits a cluster structure given by freezing these variables. Moreover, we show that $\mathcal{U}_{r, w}$ is always isomorphic to the product of two braid varieties, and we conjecture that this isomorphism is quasi-cluster. In some important special cases, we are able to prove our conjectures.