Removing Even Crossings

An edge in a drawing of a graph is called $\textit{even}$ if it intersects every other edge of the graph an even number of times. Pach and Tóth proved that a graph can always be redrawn such that its even edges are not involved in any intersections. We give a new, and significantly simpler, proof of a slightly stronger statement. We show two applications of this strengthened result: an easy proof of a theorem of Hanani and Tutte (not using Kuratowski's theorem), and the result that the odd crossing number of a graph equals the crossing number of the graph for values of at most $3$. We begin with a disarmingly simple proof of a weak (but standard) version of the theorem by Hanani and Tutte

Unexpected behaviour of crossing sequences

The n-th crossing number of a graph G, denoted cr_n(G), is the minimum number of crossings in a drawing of G on an orientable surface of genus n. We prove that for every a>b>0, there exists a graph G for which cr_0(G) = a, cr_1(G) = b, and cr_2(G) = 0. This provides support for a conjecture of Archdeacon et al. and resolves a problem of Salazar.Comment: 21 page

The forbidden number of a knot

Every classical or virtual knot is equivalent to the unknot via a sequence of extended Reidemeister moves and the so-called forbidden moves. The minimum number of forbidden moves necessary to unknot a given knot is an invariant we call the {\it forbidden number}. We relate the forbidden number to several known invariants, and calculate bounds for some classes of virtual knots.Comment: 14 pages, many figures; v2 improves the upper bounds from the crossing number, and adds more detail to the data presented in the conclusio

Simple realizability of complete abstract topological graphs simplified

An abstract topological graph (briefly an AT-graph) is a pair $A=(G,\mathcal{X})$ where $G=(V,E)$ is a graph and $\mathcal{X}\subseteq {E \choose 2}$ is a set of pairs of its edges. The AT-graph $A$ is simply realizable if $G$ can be drawn in the plane so that each pair of edges from $\mathcal{X}$ crosses exactly once and no other pair crosses. We show that simply realizable complete AT-graphs are characterized by a finite set of forbidden AT-subgraphs, each with at most six vertices. This implies a straightforward polynomial algorithm for testing simple realizability of complete AT-graphs, which simplifies a previous algorithm by the author. We also show an analogous result for independent $\mathbb{Z}_2$-realizability, where only the parity of the number of crossings for each pair of independent edges is specified.Comment: 26 pages, 17 figures; major revision; original Section 5 removed and will be included in another pape