Types of embedded graphs and their Tutte polynomials

Abstract: We take an elementary and systematic approach to the problem of extending the Tutte polynomial to the setting of embedded graphs. Four notions of embedded graphs arise naturally when considering deletion and contraction operations on graphs on surfaces. We give a description of each class in terms of coloured ribbon graphs. We then identify a universal deletion-contraction invariant (i.e., a `Tutte polynomial') for each class. We relate these to graph polynomials in the literature, including the Bollob\'as--Riordan, Krushkal, and Las Vergnas polynomials, and give state-sum formulations, duality relations, deleton-contraction relations, and quasi-tree expansions for each of them.