A discrete Morse perspective on knot projections and a generalised clock theorem (Q2039999)

Discrete Morse theory is a combinatorial analogue of Morse Theory for regular cell complexes introduced by \textit{R. Forman} in the nineties [in: Geometry, topology and physics for Raoul Bott. Lectures of a conference in honor of Raoul Bott's 70th birthday, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA 1993. Cambridge, MA: International Press. 112--125 (1995; Zbl 0867.57018); Adv. Math. 134, No. 1, 90--145 (1998; Zbl 0896.57023)]. Let \(D\) be a knot diagram and let us denote by \(\Gamma(D)\) its associated Tait graph. Recently, Cohen developed a method to associate to each matching on \(\Gamma(D)\) a family of discrete Morse functions (in the sense of Forman) on the sphere \(\mathbb{S}^2\) (see [\textit{M. Cohen}, ``A correspondence between complexes and knots'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1211.2553}] and [\textit{M. Cohen} and \textit{M. Teicher}, Electron. J. Comb. 21, No. 4, Research Paper P4.31, 39 p. (2014; Zbl 1302.57017)]) In the work under review, the authors extend Cohen's work. First, they introduce novel definitions and obtain new insightful results, such as a complete characterization of the set of possible discrete Morse functions arising from a generalised version of Cohen's construction (Theorem 12). Second, they raise open questions suggesting novel directions for further research. The main result of the article is a simultaneous further generalisation of the Clock theorem (see Theorem 2.4 of [\textit{L. H. Kauffman}, Formal knot theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ (1983; Zbl 0537.57002)]) and the Kenyon-Propp-Wilson correspondence (see Theorem 1 of [\textit{R. W. Kenyon} et al., Electron. J. Comb. 7, No. 1, Research paper R25, 34 p. (2000; Zbl 0939.05066)]): \textbf{Theorem 30} (Click-Clock). If the diagram \(D\) is reduced, any two perfect admissible matchings on \(\Gamma(D)\) are related by a finite sequence of click path, click loop and clock moves. As a consequence of the proof of Theorem 30, two perfect discrete Morse functions can be transformed into one another by clock and click path moves -- or only clock moves of Type I if they share the same critical points (this last part is Kauffman's original Clock Theorem); furthermore, if these two discrete Morse functions share the same Jordan trail (see Definition 4), then they differ by at most two click path moves.