Geodesic graphs for a homotopy class of virtual knots

Abstract

We consider a local move, denoted by [Formula: see text], on knot diagrams or virtual knot diagrams.If two (virtual) knots [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are transformed into each other by a finite sequence of [Formula: see text] moves, the [Formula: see text] distance between [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] is the minimum number of times of [Formula: see text] moves needed to transform [Formula: see text] into [Formula: see text]. By [Formula: see text], we denote the set of all (virtual) knots which can be transformed into a (virtual) knot [Formula: see text] by [Formula: see text] moves. A geodesic graph for [Formula: see text] is the graph which satisfies the following: The vertex set consists of (virtual) knots in [Formula: see text] and for any two vertices [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], the distance on the graph from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] coincides with the [Formula: see text] distance between [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. When we consider virtual knots and a crossing change as a local move [Formula: see text], we show that the [Formula: see text]-dimensional lattice graph for any given natural number [Formula: see text] and any tree are geodesic graphs for [Formula: see text].