Cyclic coverings of virtual link diagrams

Abstract

A virtual link diagram is called mod [Formula: see text] almost classical if it admits an Alexander numbering valued in integers modulo [Formula: see text], and a virtual link is called mod [Formula: see text] almost classical if it has a mod [Formula: see text] almost classical diagram as a representative. In this paper, we introduce a method of constructing a mod [Formula: see text] almost classical virtual link diagram from a given virtual link diagram, which we call an [Formula: see text]-fold cyclic covering diagram. The main result is that [Formula: see text]-fold cyclic covering diagrams obtained from two equivalent virtual link diagrams are equivalent. Thus, we have a well-defined map from the set of virtual links to the set of mod [Formula: see text] almost classical virtual links. Some applications are also given.