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The singularity set of a generic standard projection to the three space of a closed surface linked in four space, consists of at most three types: double points, triple points or branch points. We say that this generic projection image is p-diagram if it does not contain any triple point. Two p-diagrams of equivalent surface links are called p-equivalent if there exist a finite sequence of local moves, such that each of them is one of the four moves taken from the seven on the well known Roseman list, that connects only p-diagrams. It is natural to ask that whether any of two p-diagrams of equivalent surface links always p-equivalent? We introduce an invariant of p-equivalent diagrams and an example of linked surfaces that answers our question negatively.

We will discuss a method for visual presentation of knotted surfaces in the four space, by examining a number and a position of its Morse’s critical points. Using this method, we will investigate surface-knot with one critical point of index $1$. Then we show infinitely many mutually distinct surface-knots that have an embedding with two critical points of index $1$. Next we define a long flat form of a banded link for any surface-knot and show diagrammatically a long flat form of $n$-twist-spun $(2,t)$-torus knots.

A chord graph in $3$-space is constructed from a ribbon surface-link in $4$-space. In earlier papers, the three moves on the diagrams of chord graphs (namely, the chord diagrams) were introduced to describe the faithful equivalence of a ribbon surface-link. In this paper, it is shown that any two equivalent ribbon surface-links are faithfully equivalent, so that any chord diagrams of any two equivalent ribbon surface-links are connected by a finite number of these three moves. By combining it with an earlier result, it is shown that any two TOP-equivalent ribbon surface-links are equivalent. In other words, there is no exotic ribbon surface-link, generalizing an earlier result on the trivial ribbon surface-knot. In another earlier result, the three moves on the chord diagrams were modified into the 16 moves on the chord diagrams without base crossing. In this paper, further modified moves of the 16 moves on the chord diagrams without base crossing are also introduced to describe how the set of ribbon torus-links is produced from the set of welded virtual links.