A Finite Algorithm for the Realizabilty of a Delaunay Triangulation

The \emph{Delaunay graph} of a point set $P \subseteq \mathbb{R}^2$ is the plane graph with the vertex-set $P$ and the edge-set that contains $\{p,p'\}$ if there exists a disc whose intersection with $P$ is exactly $\{p,p'\}$. Accordingly, a triangulated graph $G$ is \emph{Delaunay realizable} if there exists a triangulation of the Delaunay graph of some $P \subseteq \mathbb{R}^2$, called a \emph{Delaunay triangulation} of $P$, that is isomorphic to $G$. The objective of \textsc{Delaunay Realization} is to compute a point set $P \subseteq \mathbb{R}^2$ that realizes a given graph $G$ (if such a $P$ exists). Known algorithms do not solve \textsc{Delaunay Realization} as they are non-constructive. Obtaining a constructive algorithm for \textsc{Delaunay Realization} was mentioned as an open problem by Hiroshima et al.~\cite{hiroshima2000}. We design an $n^{\mathcal{O}(n)}$-time constructive algorithm for \textsc{Delaunay Realization}. In fact, our algorithm outputs sets of points with {\em integer} coordinates

Witness (Delaunay) Graphs

Proximity graphs are used in several areas in which a neighborliness relationship for input data sets is a useful tool in their analysis, and have also received substantial attention from the graph drawing community, as they are a natural way of implicitly representing graphs. However, as a tool for graph representation, proximity graphs have some limitations that may be overcome with suitable generalizations. We introduce a generalization, witness graphs, that encompasses both the goal of more power and flexibility for graph drawing issues and a wider spectrum for neighborhood analysis. We study in detail two concrete examples, both related to Delaunay graphs, and consider as well some problems on stabbing geometric objects and point set discrimination, that can be naturally described in terms of witness graphs.Comment: 27 pages. JCCGG 200

Flipping Cubical Meshes

We define and examine flip operations for quadrilateral and hexahedral meshes, similar to the flipping transformations previously used in triangular and tetrahedral mesh generation.Comment: 20 pages, 24 figures. Expanded journal version of paper from 10th International Meshing Roundtable. This version removes some unwanted paragraph breaks from the previous version; the text is unchange

The logic engine and the realization problem for nearest neighbor graphs

AbstractRoughly speaking, a “nearest neighbor graph” is formed from a set of points in the plane by joining two points if one is the nearest neighbor of the other. There are several ways in which this intuitive concept can be made precise.This paper investigates the complexity of determining whether, for a given graph G, there is a set of points P in the plane such that G is isomorphic to a nearest neighbor graph on P. We show that this problem is NP-hard for several definitions of nearest neighbor graph.Our proof technique uses an interesting simulation of a mechanical device called a “logic engine”

Reconstructing Geometric Structures from Combinatorial and Metric Information

In this dissertation, we address three reconstruction problems. First, we address the problem of reconstructing a Delaunay triangulation from a maximal planar graph. A maximal planar graph G is Delaunay realizable if there exists a realization of G as a Delaunay triangulation on the plane. Several classes of graphs with particular graph-theoretic properties are known to be Delaunay realizable. One such class of graphs is outerplanar graph. In this dissertation, we present a new proof that an outerplanar graph is Delaunay realizable. Given a convex polyhedron P and a point s on the surface (the source), the ridge tree or cut locus is a collection of points with multiple shortest paths from s on the surface of P. If we compute the shortest paths from s to all polyhedral vertices of P and cut the surface along these paths, we obtain a planar polygon called the shortest path star (sp-star) unfolding. It is known that for any convex polyhedron and a source point, the ridge tree is contained in the sp-star unfolding polygon [8]. Given a combinatorial structure of a ridge tree, we show how to construct the ridge tree and the sp-star unfolding in which it lies. In this process, we address several problems concerning the existence of sp-star unfoldings on specified source point sets. Finally, we introduce and study a new variant of the sp-star unfolding called (geodesic) star unfolding. In this unfolding, we cut the surface of the convex polyhedron along a set of non-crossing geodesics (not-necessarily the shortest). We study its properties and address its realization problem. Finally, we consider the following problem: given a geodesic star unfolding of some convex polyhedron and a source point, how can we derive the sp-star unfolding of the same polyhedron and the source point? We introduce a new algorithmic operation and perform experiments using that operation on a large number of geodesic star unfolding polygons. Experimental data provides strong evidence that the successive applications of this operation on geodesic star unfoldings will lead us to the sp-star unfolding

Steinitz Theorems for Orthogonal Polyhedra

We define a simple orthogonal polyhedron to be a three-dimensional polyhedron with the topology of a sphere in which three mutually-perpendicular edges meet at each vertex. By analogy to Steinitz's theorem characterizing the graphs of convex polyhedra, we find graph-theoretic characterizations of three classes of simple orthogonal polyhedra: corner polyhedra, which can be drawn by isometric projection in the plane with only one hidden vertex, xyz polyhedra, in which each axis-parallel line through a vertex contains exactly one other vertex, and arbitrary simple orthogonal polyhedra. In particular, the graphs of xyz polyhedra are exactly the bipartite cubic polyhedral graphs, and every bipartite cubic polyhedral graph with a 4-connected dual graph is the graph of a corner polyhedron. Based on our characterizations we find efficient algorithms for constructing orthogonal polyhedra from their graphs.Comment: 48 pages, 31 figure