Irreducible triangulations of surfaces with boundary

A triangulation of a surface is irreducible if no edge can be contracted to produce a triangulation of the same surface. In this paper, we investigate irreducible triangulations of surfaces with boundary. We prove that the number of vertices of an irreducible triangulation of a (possibly non-orientable) surface of genus g>=0 with b>=0 boundaries is O(g+b). So far, the result was known only for surfaces without boundary (b=0). While our technique yields a worse constant in the O(.) notation, the present proof is elementary, and simpler than the previous ones in the case of surfaces without boundary

Shortest path embeddings of graphs on surfaces

The classical theorem of F\'{a}ry states that every planar graph can be represented by an embedding in which every edge is represented by a straight line segment. We consider generalizations of F\'{a}ry's theorem to surfaces equipped with Riemannian metrics. In this setting, we require that every edge is drawn as a shortest path between its two endpoints and we call an embedding with this property a shortest path embedding. The main question addressed in this paper is whether given a closed surface S, there exists a Riemannian metric for which every topologically embeddable graph admits a shortest path embedding. This question is also motivated by various problems regarding crossing numbers on surfaces. We observe that the round metrics on the sphere and the projective plane have this property. We provide flat metrics on the torus and the Klein bottle which also have this property. Then we show that for the unit square flat metric on the Klein bottle there exists a graph without shortest path embeddings. We show, moreover, that for large g, there exist graphs G embeddable into the orientable surface of genus g, such that with large probability a random hyperbolic metric does not admit a shortest path embedding of G, where the probability measure is proportional to the Weil-Petersson volume on moduli space. Finally, we construct a hyperbolic metric on every orientable surface S of genus g, such that every graph embeddable into S can be embedded so that every edge is a concatenation of at most O(g) shortest paths.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures: Version 3 is updated after comments of reviewer

Surfaces, Tree-Width, Clique-Minors, and Partitions

In 1971, Chartrand, Geller, and Hedetniemi conjectured that the edge set of a planar graph may be partitioned into two subsets, each of which induces an outerplanar graph. Some partial results towards this conjecture are presented. One such result, in which a planar graph may be thus edge partitioned into two series-parallel graphs, has nice generalizations for graphs embedded onto an arbitrary surface and graphs with no large clique-minor. Several open questions are raised. © 2000 Academic Press

Triangulating the Real Projective Plane

We consider the problem of computing a triangulation of the real projective plane P2, given a finite point set S={p1, p2,..., pn} as input. We prove that a triangulation of P2 always exists if at least six points in S are in general position, i.e., no three of them are collinear. We also design an algorithm for triangulating P2 if this necessary condition holds. As far as we know, this is the first computational result on the real projective plane

Irreducible Quadrangulations of the Torus

AbstractIn this paper, we find the irreducible quadrangulations of the torus. As a consequence, any two quadrangulations of the torus with the same number of vertices that are either both bipartite or both non-bipartite (except for some complete bipartite graphs) can be transformed into one another, up to homeomorphism, using a sequence of diagonal slides and diagonal rotations. We also determine the minor minimal 2-representative graphs on the torus

Excluding Two Minors of the Petersen Graph

In this dissertation, we begin with a brief survey of the Petersen graph and its role in graph theory. We will then develop an alternative decomposition to clique sums for 3-connected graphs, called T-sums. This decomposition will be used in Chapter 2 to completely characterize those graphs which have no P_3 minor, where P_3 is a graph with 7 vertices, 12 edges, and is isomorphic to the graph created by contracting three edges of a perfect matching of the Petersen Graph. In Chapter 3, we determine the structure of any large internally 4-connected graph which has no P_2 minor, where P_2 is a graph on 8 vertices, 13 edges, and is isomorphic to the graph created by contracting two edges of a perfect matching of the Petersen Graph

Discrete Differential Geometry

Discrete Differential Geometry is a broad new area where differential geometry (studying smooth curves, surfaces and other manifolds) interacts with discrete geometry (studying polyhedral manifolds), using tools and ideas from all parts of mathematics. This report documents the 29 lectures at the first Oberwolfach workshop in this subject, with topics ranging from discrete integrable systems, polyhedra, circle packings and tilings to applications in computer graphics and geometry processing. It also includes a list of open problems posed at the problem session

UNOmaha Problem of the Week (2021-2022 Edition)

The University of Omaha math department\u27s Problem of the Week was taken over in Fall 2019 from faculty by the authors. The structure: each semester (Fall and Spring), three problems are given per week for twelve weeks, with each problem worth ten points - mimicking the structure of arguably the most well-regarded university math competition around, the Putnam Competition, with prizes awarded to top-scorers at semester\u27s end. The weekly competition was halted midway through Spring 2020 due to COVID-19, but relaunched again in Fall 2021, with massive changes. Now there are three difficulty tiers to POW problems, roughly corresponding to easy/medium/hard difficulties, with each tier getting twelve problems per semester, and three problems (one of each tier) per week posted online and around campus. The tiers are named after the EPH classification of conic sections (which is connected to many other classifications in math), and in the present compilation they abide by the following color-coding: Cyan, Green, and Magenta. In practice, when creating the problem sets, we begin with a large enough pool of problem drafts and separate out the ones which are most obviously elliptic or hyperbolic, and then the remaining ones fall into parabolic. The tiers don\u27t necessarily reflect workload, though, only prerequisite mathematical background. Ideally, the solutions to elliptic problems, and any parts of solutions to parabolic and hyperbolic problems not covered in standard undergraduate courses, are meant to test participants\u27 creativity. Beware, though, many solutions also include additional commentary which varies wildly in the reader\u27s assumed mathematical maturity