Diagonal transformations in quadrangulations and Dehn twists preserving cycle parities (Q1354720)

The authors prove that, for each closed orientable surface \(S_g\), there is a positive integer \(m(S_g)\) such that any two quadrangulations \(G_1\) and \(G_2\) of \(S_g\) with \(|V(G_1) |= |V(G_2) |\geq m(S_g)\) are equivalent up to isotopy (by a sequence of diagonal slides and rotations) if and only if they have the same homological structure. This latter is determined by the equality of two homomorphisms, defined in the paper, which are said to give the cycle parity of \(G_1\) and \(G_2\) respectively. This extends a theorem of \textit{A. Nakamoto} [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. B 67, 202-211, Art. No. 0041 (1996; Zbl 0857.05024)], in the orientable case.