Pseudo diagrams of knots, links and spatial graphs (Q601292)

In the article under review graph stands for a graph without 1- or 2-valent vertices. A pseudo diagram of a graph is a diagram of a projection of the embedding of a graph (in the sequel called a spatial graph) on the 3-sphere but with the over/under information omitted at some (or all, or none) of the crossings; the crossings at which this information is omitted are called pre-crossings (in the sequel, pre-crossings lack the over/under information; crossings come with the over/under information). It is observed that for some pseudo-diagrams, the turning of a pre-crossing into a crossing yields a diagram of a knotted spatial graph; for others such operation yields a non-knotted spatial graph (a so-called trivial spatial graph); for others still it depends on the over/under assignment. A pseudo diagram is called trivial (respect., knotted) if the turning of any of its pre-crossings into a crossing yields a trivial (respect., knotted) spatial graph. Given a projection of a spatial graph, the author defines its trivializing number (respect., knotting number) as the least number of crossings over all trivial (respect., knotted) pseudo diagrams stemming from this projection. The article is dedicated to the study of these numbers. It is remarked that pseudo diagrams are potentially important for DNA knots since for these knots sometimes the over/under information at crossings is not clear.