Characterization of signed Gauss paragraphs

Abstract

In this paper we use theory of embedded graphs on oriented and compact $PL$-surfaces to construct minimal realizations of signed Gauss paragraphs. We prove that the genus of the ambient surface of these minimal realizations can be seen as a function of the maximum number of Carter's circles. For the case of signed Gauss words, we use a generating set of $H_1(S_w,\mathbb{Z})$, given in \cite{CaEl}, and the intersection pairing of immersed $PL$-normal curves to present a short solution of the signed Gauss word problem. Moreover, we define the join operation on signed Gauss paragraphs to produce signed Gauss words such that both can be realized on the same minimal genus $PL$-surface.