Minimal charts (Q1646558)

We consider charts in a disk. For a chart \(\Gamma\), let \(c(\Gamma)\), \(w(\Gamma)\), \(f(\Gamma)\), and \(b(\Gamma)\) be the numbers of crossings, white vertices, free edges, and bigons of \(\Gamma\), respectively. The 4-tuple \((c(\Gamma), w(\Gamma), -f(\Gamma), -b(\Gamma))\) is called the \(c\)-complexity, the 4-tuple \((w(\Gamma), c(\Gamma), -f(\Gamma), -b(\Gamma))\) is called the \(w\)-complexity, and the 3-tuple \((c(\Gamma)+w(\Gamma), -f(\Gamma), -b(\Gamma))\) is called the \(cw\)-complexity of \(\Gamma\). A chart \(\Gamma\) is \(c\)-minimal (respectively, \(w\)-minimal or \(cw\)-minimal) if its \(c\)-complexity (respectively, \(w\)-complexity or \(cw\)-complexity) is minimal among the charts C-move equivalent to \(\Gamma\), with respect to the lexicographical order of 4-tuples (or 3-tuples) of integers. We say that a chart is minimal if it satisfies one of these three types of minimality. In this paper, the authors give this definition of a minimal chart, and show three theorems characterizing minimal charts, which are useful for the classification of charts with two or three crossings. One of the theorems is as follows: In a minimal chart, there does not exist an NS-tangle of any label, which is an extension of a former result due to the authors [J. Math. Sci., Tokyo 17, No. 2, 217--241 (2010; Zbl 1250.57039)]. \newline We review the main terms. A chart is an oriented labeled graph in a disk with three types of vertices: black vertices, crossings and white vertices. A black vertex is a vertex of degree 1, a crossing is a vertex of degree 4, and a white vertex is a vertex of degree 6, equipped with certain orientations and labels assigned to the edges around the vertex. A free edge is an edge whose end points are a pair of black vertices. A bigon is a region bounded by two edges connected with two white vertices or one white vertex such that there are no edges nor vertices in the interior of the region. Two charts of the same degree are C-move equivalent if there exists a finite sequence of local modifications called C-moves which modifies one of the charts to the other. A chart presents an oriented knotted surface in \(\mathbb{R}^4\), and C-move equivalent charts present ambient isotopic knotted surfaces.