Minimal generating sets of directed oriented Reidemeister moves

Abstract: Polyak proved that the set

O m e g a 1 a, O m e g a 1 b, O m e g a 2 a, O m e g a 3 a

is a minimal generating set of oriented Reidemeister moves. One may distinguish between forward and backward moves, obtaining

32

different types of moves, which we call directed oriented Reidemeister moves. In this article we prove that the set of

8

directed Polyak moves

O m e g a {1 a}^{u} p a r r o w, O m e g a {1 a}^{d} o w n a r r o w, O m e g a {1 b}^{u} p a r r o w, O m e g a {1 b}^{d} o w n a r r o w, O m e g a {2 a}^{u} p a r r o w, O m e g a {2 a}^{d} o w n a r r o w, O m e g a {3 a}^{u} p a r r o w, O m e g a {3 a}^{d} o w n a r r o w

is a minimal generating set of directed oriented Reidemeister moves. We also specialize the problem, introducing the notion of a

L

-generating set for a link

L

. The same set is proven to be a minimal

L

-generating set for any link

L

with at least

2

components. Finally, we discuss knot diagram invariants arising in the study of

K

-generating sets for an arbitrary knot

K

, emphasizing the distinction between ascending and descending moves of type

O m e g a 3

.

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