Computing the Face Lattice of a Polytope from its Vertex-Facet Incidences

We give an algorithm that constructs the Hasse diagram of the face lattice of a convex polytope P from its vertex-facet incidences in time O(min{n,m}*a*f), where n is the number of vertices, m is the number of facets, a is the number of vertex-facet incidences, and f is the total number of faces of P. This improves results of Fukuda and Rosta (1994), who described an algorithm for enumerating all faces of a d-polytope in O(min{n,m}*d*f^2) steps. For simple or simplicial d-polytopes our algorithm can be specialized to run in time O(d*a*f). Furthermore, applications of the algorithm to other atomic lattices are discussed, e.g., to face lattices of oriented matroids.Comment: 14 pages; to appear in: Comput. Geom.; the new version contains some minor extensions and corrections as well as a more detailed treatment of oriented matroid

On the Complexity of Polytope Isomorphism Problems

We show that the problem to decide whether two (convex) polytopes, given by their vertex-facet incidences, are combinatorially isomorphic is graph isomorphism complete, even for simple or simplicial polytopes. On the other hand, we give a polynomial time algorithm for the combinatorial polytope isomorphism problem in bounded dimensions. Furthermore, we derive that the problems to decide whether two polytopes, given either by vertex or by facet descriptions, are projectively or affinely isomorphic are graph isomorphism hard. The original version of the paper (June 2001, 11 pages) had the title ``On the Complexity of Isomorphism Problems Related to Polytopes''. The main difference between the current and the former version is a new polynomial time algorithm for polytope isomorphism in bounded dimension that does not rely on Luks polynomial time algorithm for checking two graphs of bounded valence for isomorphism. Furthermore, the treatment of geometric isomorphism problems was extended.Comment: 16 pages; to appear in: Graphs and Comb.; replaces our paper ``On the Complexity of Isomorphism Problems Related to Polytopes'' (June 2001

Computing the bounded subcomplex of an unbounded polyhedron

We study efficient combinatorial algorithms to produce the Hasse diagram of the poset of bounded faces of an unbounded polyhedron, given vertex-facet incidences. We also discuss the special case of simple polyhedra and present computational results.Comment: 16 page

Reconstructing a Simple Polytope from its Graph

Blind and Mani (1987) proved that the entire combinatorial structure (the vertex-facet incidences) of a simple convex polytope is determined by its abstract graph. Their proof is not constructive. Kalai (1988) found a short, elegant, and algorithmic proof of that result. However, his algorithm has always exponential running time. We show that the problem to reconstruct the vertex-facet incidences of a simple polytope P from its graph can be formulated as a combinatorial optimization problem that is strongly dual to the problem of finding an abstract objective function on P (i.e., a shelling order of the facets of the dual polytope of P). Thereby, we derive polynomial certificates for both the vertex-facet incidences as well as for the abstract objective functions in terms of the graph of P. The paper is a variation on joint work with Michael Joswig and Friederike Koerner (2001).Comment: 14 page

A face iterator for polyhedra and more general finite locally branched lattices

We discuss a new memory-efficient depth-first algorithm and its implementation that iterates over all elements of a finite locally branched lattices. This algorithm can be applied to face lattices of polyhedra and various generalizations such as finite polyhedral complexes and subdivisions of manifolds, extended tight spans and closed sets of matroids. Its practical implementation is very fast compared to state-of-the-art implementations of previously considered algorithms.Comment: 13 pages including long examples and computational dat

Geometric Reasoning with polymake

The mathematical software system polymake provides a wide range of functions for convex polytopes, simplicial complexes, and other objects. A large part of this paper is dedicated to a tutorial which exemplifies the usage. Later sections include a survey of research results obtained with the help of polymake so far and a short description of the technical background