Systems of curves on a closed orientable surface (Q1355393)

The author investigates when a collection of pairwise distinct homology classes on a closed orientable surface can be represented by a corresponding set of pairwise disjoint simple closed curves. He discovers a set of three necessary conditions that a collection of homology classes must satisfy to be represented by disjoint simple closed curves. An important consequence of this investigation is that for collections of homology classes that satisfy these three necessary conditions, there is an algorithm for deciding whether or not the collection can be represented by a set of disjoint simple closed curves.