Self-dual Embeddings of K_{4m,4n} in Different Orientable and Nonorientable Pseudosurfaces with the Same Euler Characteristic

A proper embedding of a graph G in a pseudosurface P is an embedding in which the regions of the complement of G in P are homeomorphic to discs and a vertex of G appears at each pinchpoint in P; we say that a proper embedding of G in P is self dual if there exists an isomorphism from G to its dual graph. We give an explicit construction of a self-dual embedding of the complete bipartite graph K_{4m,4n} in an orientable pseudosurface for all $m, n\ge 1$; we show that this embedding maximizes the number of umbrellas of each vertex and has the property that for any vertex v of K_{4m,4n}, there are two faces of the constructed embedding that intersect all umbrellas of v. Leveraging these properties and applying a lemma of Bruhn and Diestel, we apply a surgery introduced here or a different known surgery of Edmonds to each of our constructed embeddings for which at least one of m or n is at least 2. The result of these surgeries is that there exist distinct orientable and nonorientable pseudosurfaces with the same Euler characteristic that feature a self-dual embedding of K_{4m,4n}

Characterization of a Family of Rotationally Symmetric Spherical Quadrangulations

A spherical quadrangulation is an embedding of a graph G in the sphere in which each facial boundary walk has length four. Vertices that are not of degree four in G are called curvature vertices. In this paper we classify all spherical quadrangulations with n-fold rotational symmetry (n ≥ 3) that have minimum degree 3 and the least possible number of curvature vertices, and describe all such spherical quadrangulations in terms of nets of quadrilaterals. The description reveals that such rotationally symmetric quadrangulations necessarily also have a pole-exchanging symmetry