Partial Petrial Polynomials of Ribbon Graphs

Abstract

Gross, Mansour, and Tucker [European J. Combin., 95 (2021): 103329] introduced the \emph{partial Petrial polynomial} of a ribbon graph $G$, denoted by $^{\partial}{\varepsilon^{\times}_{G}}(z)$. Beck and Mellor proved, in both orientable and non-orientable cases respectively, that the Euler genus of a bouquet equals the rank of a certain matrix over $\mathbb{GF}(2)$. In this paper, we first generalize Beck and Mellor's results from bouquets to all ribbon graphs. Secondly, we give an equivalent representation of the partial Petrial polynomial for all ribbon graphs. Specifically, the partial Petrial polynomial of a ribbon graph $G$ with $n$ vertices is equal to the sum of this polynomial for $2^{n-1}$ distinct bouquets. Moreover, we give the definition of a modified partial Petrial polynomial by assigning coefficients $+1$ or $-1$ to the terms in the partial Petrial polynomial such that the resulting polynomial satisfies the four-term relation for graphs. Finally, we generalize the modified partial Petrial polynomial from bouquets to all signed simple graphs and prove that this polynomial is $4$-invariant, which provides an answer to the problem posed by Lando [J.~Combin.~Theory Ser.~B,~80~(1) (2000): 104-121]: Which of the known graph invariants are $4$-invariants?