A graphical calculus for tangles in surfaces

Abstract

We show how the theory of tangles is equivalent to that of well-connected tangles. These are drawn on a surface with boundary, and equivalent via Reidemeister moves of a restricted kind. This reworking of the graphical foundations for link and tangle theory can be expected to have a variety of applications, including ones involving 3-manifolds. It opens the way to new approaches for defining `facial' state-sum invariants that depend in part on assigning substates to faces of tangle diagrams.