Computing shortest closed curves on non-orientable surfaces

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Bulavka, Denys, de Verdière, Éric Colin, Fuladi, Niloufar
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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_version_ 1866909792020201472
author Bulavka, Denys
de Verdière, Éric Colin
Fuladi, Niloufar
author_facet Bulavka, Denys
de Verdière, Éric Colin
Fuladi, Niloufar
contents We initiate the study of computing shortest non-separating simple closed curves with some given topological properties on non-orientable surfaces. While, for orientable surfaces, any two non-separating simple closed curves are related by a self-homeomorphism of the surface, and computing shortest such curves has been vastly studied, for non-orientable ones the classification of non-separating simple closed curves up to ambient homeomorphism is subtler, depending on whether the curve is one-sided or two-sided, and whether it is orienting or not (whether it cuts the surface into an orientable one). We prove that computing a shortest orienting (weakly) simple closed curve on a non-orientable combinatorial surface is NP-hard but fixed-parameter tractable in the genus of the surface. In contrast, we can compute a shortest non-separating non-orienting (weakly) simple closed curve with given sidedness in $g^{O(1)}.n\log n$ time, where $g$ is the genus and $n$ the size of the surface. For these algorithms, we develop tools that can be of independent interest, to compute a variation on canonical systems of loops for non-orientable surfaces based on the computation of an orienting curve, and some covering spaces that are essentially quotients of homology covers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_11749
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Computing shortest closed curves on non-orientable surfaces
Bulavka, Denys
de Verdière, Éric Colin
Fuladi, Niloufar
Computational Geometry
Computational Complexity
Geometric Topology
05C10, 57M15, 68Q25, 68W05
F.2.2; G.2.2
We initiate the study of computing shortest non-separating simple closed curves with some given topological properties on non-orientable surfaces. While, for orientable surfaces, any two non-separating simple closed curves are related by a self-homeomorphism of the surface, and computing shortest such curves has been vastly studied, for non-orientable ones the classification of non-separating simple closed curves up to ambient homeomorphism is subtler, depending on whether the curve is one-sided or two-sided, and whether it is orienting or not (whether it cuts the surface into an orientable one). We prove that computing a shortest orienting (weakly) simple closed curve on a non-orientable combinatorial surface is NP-hard but fixed-parameter tractable in the genus of the surface. In contrast, we can compute a shortest non-separating non-orienting (weakly) simple closed curve with given sidedness in $g^{O(1)}.n\log n$ time, where $g$ is the genus and $n$ the size of the surface. For these algorithms, we develop tools that can be of independent interest, to compute a variation on canonical systems of loops for non-orientable surfaces based on the computation of an orienting curve, and some covering spaces that are essentially quotients of homology covers.
title Computing shortest closed curves on non-orientable surfaces
topic Computational Geometry
Computational Complexity
Geometric Topology
05C10, 57M15, 68Q25, 68W05
F.2.2; G.2.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.11749