Arc numbers from Gauss diagrams

Abstract

We characterize planar diagrams which may be divided into n arc embeddings in terms of their chord diagrams, generalizing a result of Taniyama for the case n = 2. Two algorithms are provided, one which finds a minimal arc embedding (in quadradic time in the number of crossings), and one which constructs a minimal subdiagram having same arc number as D.

arXiv comment4 pages, 1 figure