Recognising conjugacy classes of Dehn twists on $\mathbb D_3$

Abstract

We analyse the action of the basic Dehn twists on the essential curves, $\gamma$, in a disc with 3 marked points, $\mathbb D_3$. In particular, we interpret the induced dynamics on the Dynnikov plane in terms of the standard dynamics in homology $H_1({\rm T})=\mathbb Z^2$ of the branched covering torus with a hole, ${\rm T}\to \mathbb D_3$. Our explicit description of orbits of the action of the pure mapping class group ${\rm PMod}(\mathbb D_3)$ can be viewed as a solution of the conjugacy problem for the Dehn twists $t_{\gamma}$. We also present an ``untwisting algorithm'' for factorization of this problem into a minimal number of steps.