Optimal meshes of curves in the Klein bottle (Q1405111)

An \((m,n)\)-mesh in the Klein bottle \(\widetilde{\Sigma}_2\) is a pair \((\mathcal{B},\mathcal{R})\) of families of closed curves in \(\widetilde{\Sigma}_2\), of sizes \(m\) and \(n\), respectively, such that every curve in \(\mathcal{B}\) intersects every curve in \(\mathcal{R}\). Let \(i_2^*(m,n)\) denote the minimum number of intersections in an \((m,n)\)-mesh in \(\widetilde{\Sigma}_2\). \textit{F. Shahrokhi} et al. [Discrete Comput. Geom. 19, 237-247 (1998; Zbl 0929.05023)] proved that \(i_2^*(m,n) \geq mn + \frac{m^2}{(544321)^2}\) for \(n \geq m \geq \frac{3\cdot 9!}{2}+1\). In the present paper, the authors prove that, for each \(m \geq 3\), there exists an \(n_0(m)\) such that, for every \(n \geq n_0(m)\), \(i_2^*(m,n) =mn + {{\lfloor m/2 \rfloor} \choose 2} + {{\lceil m/2 \rceil} \choose 2}\); this implies that, for \(n \geq n_0(m)\), the Klein bottle crossing number of the Cartesian product \(C_m \times C_n\) equals \({{\lfloor m/2 \rfloor} \choose 2} + {{\lceil m/2 \rceil} \choose 2}\). The proof is based on the result of \textit{A. Riskin} [Discrete Math. 234, 77-88 (2001; Zbl 0986.05036)] that \(C_3 \times C_5\) cannot be embedded in \(\widetilde{\Sigma}_2\).