Properties of minimal charts and their applications VII: charts of type (2,3,2) (Q2216592)

For a chart \(\Gamma\) with at least one white vertex, and integers \(n_1, n_2, \ldots, n_k\), \(\Gamma\) is of type \((n_1, n_2, \ldots, n_k)\) if \(\Gamma\) has exactly \(\sum_{i=1}^k n_i\) white vertices and there exists a label \(m\) of \(\Gamma\) such that there are exactly \(n_i\) white vertices in \(\Gamma_{m+i-1} \cap \Gamma_{m+i}\) \((i=1, \ldots,k)\). Here, \(\Gamma_i\) is the union of all the edges of label \(i\). In this paper, the main result is that there exists no minimal chart of type \((2,3,2)\). The authors showed in [Hiroshima Math. J. 39, No. 1, 1--35 (2009; Zbl 1194.57030)] that if there exists a minimal chart with exactly seven white vertices, then the chart is of type \((7)\), \((5,2)\), \((4,3)\), \((3,2,2)\) or \((2,3,2)\). The main result in this paper, together with other published or future results by the authors, shall show that there is no minimal chart with exactly seven white vertices. In the proof, the authors investigate charts by a complicated analysis focusing on particular parts called ovals, applying techniques established in their former papers and a preprint, including the one called IO-Calculation. We review the main terms. A chart is an oriented labeled graph in a disk satisfying certain conditions, equipped with three types of vertices: vertices of degree 1 called black vertices, and vertices of degree 4 called crossings, and vertices of degree 6 called white vertices. An edge in a chart is called a free edge if it has two black vertices at its endpoints. A chart presents an oriented surface link in \(\mathbb{R}^4\), which is an oriented closed surface embedded in \(\mathbb{R}^4\). A C-move is a local modification between two charts of the same degree, and a C-move between two charts induces an ambient isotopy between the associated surface links. For a chart \(\Gamma\), the pair \((w(\Gamma), -f(\Gamma))\) is called the complexity of \(\Gamma\), where \(w(\Gamma)\) and \(f(\Gamma)\) are the number of white vertices and the number of free edges, respectively, and a chart \(\Gamma\) is minimal if its complexity is minimal with respect to the lexicographic order of pairs of integers, among charts which are related to \(\Gamma\) by C-moves. For the first 6 parts of this work see [\textit{T. Nagase} and \textit{A. Shima}, J. Math. Sci., Tokyo 14, No. 1, 69--97 (2007; Zbl 1135.57012), Hiroshima Math. J. 39, No. 1, 1--35 (2009; Zbl 1194.57030), Tokyo J. Math. 33, No. 2, 373--392 (2010; Zbl 1211.57015), J. Math. Sci., Tokyo 24, No. 2, 195--237 (2017; Zbl 1369.57026), J. Knot Theory Ramifications 28, No. 14, Article ID 1950084, 27 p. (2019; Zbl 1434.57016), J. Math. Sci., Tokyo 27, No. 1, 109--156 (2020)].