A classification of generic curves on oriented surfaces (Q1264901)

A generic curve in a closed oriented surface is an equivalence class of smooth self-transverse immersions \(S^1\to F\) where \(F\) is an oriented closed surface and where two such immersions \(f:S^1\to F\) and \(f':S^1\to F'\) are considered equivalent if there exist orientation preserving diffeomorphisms \(\alpha:S^1\to S^1\) and \(\beta:F\to F'\) such that \(f'=\beta f\alpha\). The generic curve represented by \(f:S^1\to F\) is said to be cellular if all components of \(F-f(S^1)\) are open disks. With every immersion \(f:S^1\to F\) as above, having \(n\) double points, say, the author associates the oriented chord diagram consisting of the circle \(S^1\) with \(n\) (abstract) oriented chords added: each chord joins two distinct points \(x',x''\) in \(S^1\) such that \(f(x')=f(x'')\), and the orientation of the chord depends on the way, orientationwise, the two ``branches'' of the curve meet at \(f(x')\). Then he explains the opposite construction, i.e.\ one that produces a cellular generic curve from an oriented chord diagram, and proves that in this way we obtain a bijective correspondence between cellular generic curves in oriented closed surfaces and isomorphism classes of oriented chord diagrams. Finally the relation of generic curves (or chord diagrams) to two kinds of classical objects, Gauss words and combinatorial maps, is pointed out.