Symmetric orientations of dividing \(T\)-curves (Q1419410)

The article under review is devoted to \(T\)-curves, i.e., the curves arising in the combinatorial patchworking. This construction is a particular case of the Viro method of construction of real algebraic varieties with prescribed topology. Let \(m\) be a positive integer, and \(T_m\) the triangle with vertices \((0,0)\), \((m, 0)\), \((0, m)\). Starting with a convex triangulation (sometimes these triangulations are also called regular or coherent) with integer vertices of \(T\), and a distribution of signs at the vertices of the triangulation, the construction produces a piecewise-linear curve ``\(T\) in the real projective plane. According to the Viro theorem, this piecewise-linear curve is isotopic to a nonsingular curve of degree \(m\) in the real projective plane. Moreover, as such an algebraic curve, one can take the curve defined by a polynomial \(\sum_{(i,j)\in V}\delta_{i,j} t^{\nu(i,j)}x^i_0 x^j_1 x_2^{m-i-j}\), where \(t\) is a sufficiently small positive number, \(V\) is the set of vertices of the chosen triangulation, \(\delta_{i,j}\) is the sign associated to the point \((i,j)\), and \(\nu\) is a convex function certifying the convexity of the triangulation (for details, see, for example, [\textit{I. Itenberg} and \textit{O. Viro}, Math. Intell. 18, No. 4, 19--28 (1996; Zbl 0876.14017)]. Both curves (the curve \(T\) and an algebraic curve defined by the above polynomial) are called \(T\)-curves. A nonsingular real algebraic curve is called dividing (or of type I) if the real point set of this curve divides its complex point set into two halves exchanged by the involution of complex conjugation. In 1974, V. A. Rokhlin introduced the notion of complex orientations for dividing curves [\textit{V. A. Rokhlin} Funct. Anal. Appl. 8, 331--334 (1974; Zbl 0317.14028); translation from Funkts. Anal. Prilozh. 8, No.~4, 71--75 (1974)]. The complex orientations are two opposite orientations of the real point set of adtviding curve induced by the canonical orientations of the halves of the complex point set. In the paper under review, the author considers the case of \(T\)-curves constructed using primitive triangulations (i.e., triangulations in triangles of area 1/2), and gives a description of type (I or II) of an algebraic \(T\)-curve, as well as of complex orientations of an algebraic \(T\)-curve of type I, in terms of the corresponding piecewise-linear \(T\)-curve. More precisely, the author introduces the notion of type of a piecewise-linear \(T\)-curve, and a pair of opposite orientations for a piecewise-linear \(T\)-curve of type I. The latter orientations are called symmetric. Then, the author proves that the type of a piecewise-linear \(T\)-curve \(T\) coincides with the type of a corresponding algebraic \(T\)-curve, and the symmetric orientations of \(T\) (in the case when \(T\) is of type I) are coherent with the complex orientations of a corresponding algebraic \(T\)-curve. The central result of the paper is a complete combinatorial description of piecewise-linear \(T\)-curves of type I.