Mapping class factorization via fatgraph Nielsen reduction (Q663534)

Let \(\Sigma_{g,1}\) be a genus \(g\) orientable surface with one boundary component, and \(\pi = \pi_1(\Sigma_{g,1}, p)\), where \(p\) is a point on \(\partial \Sigma_{g,1}\). An ordered set of generators \(\mathcal{X}\) for \(\pi\) is a combinatorial generating set, or CG set, if \(\partial \Sigma_{g,1} \in \pi\) can be written as a reduced word using each letter of \(\mathcal{X}\) exactly once. Let \(\mathfrak{X}\) be the set of equivalence classes of CG sets. The chord slide groupoid is defined as the category whose objects are copies of \(\pi\), precisely one for every \(\mathcal{X} \in \mathfrak{X}\), and whose morphisms are the isomorphisms from \(\pi\) to itself which take one CG set to another CG set. A CG set \(\mathcal{X}\) naturally corresponds to a linear chord diagram \(G_{\mathcal{X}}\), which is a graph constructed from a core and \(2g\) chords. A sliding of a chord of \(G_{\mathcal{X}}\) obtaining \(G_{\mathcal{X}'}\) induces a morphism from \(\mathcal{X}\) to \(\mathcal{X}'\), which is called the chord slide. The author [Geom. Dedicata 144, 171--190 (2010; Zbl 1214.57019)] showed that the chord slide groupoid is generated by chord slides on CG sets, and all relations are compositions of the five explicit ones. The mapping class group \(MC_{g,1}\) of \(\Sigma_{g,1}\) naturally acts on \(\mathfrak{X}\). The above theorem shows that, for any element \(\varphi\), there is a sequence of chord slides from a CG set \(\mathcal{X}\) to \(\varphi(\mathcal{X})\). In the paper under review, the author introduces an algorithm which determines this sequence. To define this algorithm, an energy function \(\| \cdot \|\) on CG sets is introduced by extending the usual word length function. The sequence is a sequence of energy decreasing chord slides obtained by cancellation theory. In the last section of this paper, the above result is described in terms of Whitehead moves on fat graphs.