In this paper, we obtain the necessary and sufficient condition that two knot projections are related by a finite sequence of the first and second flat Reidemeister moves (Theorem 2.2). We also consider an equivalence relation that is called weak (1, 3) homotopy. This equivalence relation occurs by the first flat Reidemeister move and one of the third flat Reidemeister moves. We introduce a map sending weak (1, 3) homotopy classes to knot isotopy classes (Sec. 3). Using the map, we determine which knot projections are trivialized under weak (1, 3) homotopy (Corollary 4.1).
A knot projection is an image of a generic immersion from a circle into a two-dimensional sphere. We can find homotopies between any two knot projections by local replacements of knot projections of three types, called Reidemeister moves. This paper defines an equivalence relation for knot projections called weak (1, 2, 3) homotopy, which consists of Reidemeister moves of type 1, weak type 2, and weak type 3. This paper defines the first non-trivial invariant under weak (1, 2, 3) homotopy. We use this invariant to show that there exist an infinite number of weak (1, 2, 3) homotopy equivalence classes of knot projections. By contrast, all equivalence classes of knot projections consisting of the other variants of a triple type, i.e., Reidemeister moves of (1, strong type 2, strong type 3), (1, weak type 2, strong type 3), and (1, strong type 2, weak type 3), are contractible.
A triple chord f is a sub-diagram of a chord diagram that consists of a circle and finitely many chords connecting the preimages for every double point on a spherical curve. This paper describes some relationships between the number of triple chords and an equivalence relation called strong (1, 2) homotopy, which consists of the first and one kind of the second Reidemeister moves involving inverse self-tangency if the curve is given any orientation. We show that a prime knot projection is trivialized by strong (1, 2) homotopy, if it is a simple closed curve or a prime knot projection without 1-and 2-gons whose chord diagram does not contain any triple chords. We also discuss the relation between Shimizu's reductivity and triple chords.
We introduce an unknotting-type number of knot projections that gives an upper bound of the crosscap number of knots. We determine the set of knot projections with the unknotting-type number at most two, and this result implies classical and new results that determine the set of alternating knots with the crosscap number at most two.
We give a lower bound of the crosscap number of alternating knots using band surgery. This lower bound is equal to the minimum number of the first Betti number, i.e. one minus the maximal Euler characteristic, over all (orientable and non-orientable) surfaces spanning a given alternating knot.
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