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20 votes
5 answers
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From convex polytopes to toric varieties: the constructions of Davis and Januszkiewicz

One of the most useful tools in the study of convex polytopes is to move from polytopes (through their fans) to toric varieties and see how properties of the associated toric variety reflects back on ...
Gil Kalai's user avatar
  • 24.7k
18 votes
1 answer
641 views

Can all convex polytopes be realized with vertices on surface of convex body?

The following question was asked by me on Mathematics.SE. Unfortunately, no one answered it so I thought I might give it a try one level higher. Below the line you can find the slightly edited ...
Gregor Samsa's user avatar
17 votes
4 answers
1k views

Can I build infinitely many polytopes from only finitely many prescribed facets?

Given a finite set of convex $d$-dimensional polytopes $\mathcal P$, for some $d\ge 2$. Question: Is it true that there are only finitely many different convex $(d+1)$-dimensional polytopes whose ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
16 votes
0 answers
298 views

Realization spaces of 3-dimensional polytopes with fixed face areas

It is a well-know result (Steinitz, 1922) that the realization space of 3-dimensional convex polytopes with fixed combinatorics is contractible. A proof of this theorem can be found for instance in ...
Misha's user avatar
  • 31.2k
11 votes
0 answers
352 views

Right-angled polytopes

%This question is motivated by the little discussion here at the bottom. The following thing are known about hyperbolic right-angled polytopes: Compact hyperbolic right-angled polytopes do not exist ...
SashaKolpakov's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
665 views

Question about tetrahedron decomposition

Are there tetrahedra which can be subdivided into three non-overlapping parts similar to the original? I believe this would require splitting one face into three parts. I know some types of tetrahedra ...
Dennis Farr's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
523 views

The volume of the “unit ball” in $\mathbb{R}^{m\times n}$ with respect to the cut norm

This question is inspired by the question “ε-nets with respect to the cut norm” by the user Aaron, which had been reposted to cstheory.stackexchange.com. The cut norm ||A||C of a matrix A=(aij)∈ℝm×n ...
Tsuyoshi Ito's user avatar
  • 1,959
9 votes
0 answers
144 views

Which polytopes have compact realization spaces?

Let $P\subset\Bbb R^d$ be a convex polytope. Its reduced realization space is the space of all combinatorially equivalent polytopes modulo projective transformations. I am interested in polytopes for ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
8 votes
1 answer
361 views

Inscribed $n$-polytope with $2^n$ vertices of maximal volume

The question is in the title: Question: Which inscribed $n$-dimensional polytope (inscribed in the unit sphere) with $2^n$ vertices has the largest possible volume? Is it the $n$-dimensional cube? ...
M. Rumpy's user avatar
  • 283
8 votes
2 answers
383 views

Do singular values of a point set determine its shape?

Suppose I have $k$ points in $d$ dimensions. Let A be a $k\times d$ matrix with $i$th row giving the coordinates of $i$th point. Do singular values of this matrix have an interpretation as some kind ...
Yaroslav Bulatov's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
390 views

Is there any edge- but not vertex-transitive polytope in $d\ge 4$ dimensions?

I consider convex polytopes $P\subset\Bbb R^d$. The polytope is called vertex- resp. edge-transitive, if any vertex resp. edge can be mapped to any other by a symmetry of the polytope. I am looking ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
7 votes
3 answers
866 views

Not quite regular polyhedra

Take a naive interpretation of regular polyhedra: All vertices (including epsilon ball) congruent All edges congruent All faces congruent We can now find interesting families by removing one ...
Edmund Harriss's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
209 views

Are the primary parallelotopes classified? (equivalently, Voronoi cells of lattices)

A primary parallelohedron is a polyhedron that can fill space with infinite translated copies. It is known (e.g., Coxeter, H. S. M. Regular Polytopes, 3rd ed. New York: Dover, pp. 29-30, 1973; or, ...
Samuel Reid's user avatar
  • 1,441
7 votes
0 answers
162 views

Approximating any convex shape in $\mathbb{R}^d$ with a polytope having $\mathrm{poly}(d)$ facets

We denote by $V(A)$ the $d$-volume of any convex set $A$. Furthermore, given any two convex sets $A,B\in\mathbb{R}^d$, we denote by $V_{A,B}$ the $d$-volume of the symmetric difference $V\left(A \...
Penelope Benenati's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
185 views

Maximizing ratio volume/diameter^n by an affinity

Suppose we have a convex compact body $D\subset \mathbb R^n$. We can try to apply affine transformation keeping the volume and decreasing the diameter of $D$. It is clear that there is a constant $\...
Nikita Kalinin's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
254 views

Triangulations of convex surfaces

Let $M$ be a smooth closed positively curved surface in Euclidean 3-space, $T$ be a geodesic triangulation of $M$, and $E$ be the edge graph of the convex hull of vertices of $T$. It is easy to see ...
Mohammad Ghomi's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
304 views

Is there a 4-polytope without 3-gonal and 4-gonal faces, other than the 120-cell?

The question is in the title: Question: Is there any 4-dimensional polytope without 3-gonal and 4-gonal faces (of dimension two), other than the 120-cell? I consider only convex polytopes (convex ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
5 votes
2 answers
294 views

Convex caps with prescribed edges

Let $P$ be a convex polygon in the plane $R^2=R^2\times \{0\}$, and $E$ be the edge graph of some subdivision of $P$ into convex polygons, which is $3$-connected. Does there exist a convex polyhedral ...
Mohammad Ghomi's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
361 views

What is known about the duals of cyclic polytopes?

What is known about the duals of cyclic polytopes, in particular, their facets (or equivalently, the vertex-figures of cyclic polytopes)? In even dimensions, all facets of the dual are ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
4 votes
3 answers
347 views

Minimal data required to determine a convex polytope

Let $P\subset \Bbb R^d$ be a convex polytope. Suppose that I know its combinatorial type (aka. the face-lattice), the length $\ell_i$ of each edge, and the distance $r_i$ of each vertex from the ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
4 votes
1 answer
298 views

Does Kalai's $3^d$ conjecture hold for simplicial spheres?

Kalai's $3^d$ conjecture asserts that every centrally symmetric $d$-polytope has at least $3^d$ non-empty faces. This is open in general, but has been proven for simplicial polytopes. Question: Does ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
3 votes
3 answers
390 views

Can we uniquely define a graph to have the topology of a polytope via proper edge length selection?

I'll ask you to consider a situation wherein one has a series of edges for a graph, $(e_1, e_2, ..., e_N) \in E$, each with a specifiable length $(l_1, l_2, ..., l_N) \in L$, and the goal is to insure ...
ShallowBlue's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
438 views

If a polytope is centrally symmetric and combinatorially equivalent to a zonotope, is it a zonotope?

A zonotope is a polytope whose 2-faces are centrally symmetric. Question: If a polytope $P$ is centrally symmetric and combinatorially equivalent to a zonotope, is it itself a zonotope?
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
3 votes
1 answer
152 views

Are there any more polytopes whose 2-faces are identical 4-gons?

What are examples for convex polytope $P\subset \Bbb R^d,d\ge 3$ for which holds $P$ is 2-face transitive (that is, all 2-faces are equivalent under the symmetries of $P$), and all 2-faces of $P$ are ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
3 votes
1 answer
218 views

Bounding the number of facets of a polytope to approximate a given convex shape in higher dimensions

We are given a convex shape $S$ lying inside the hypercube $[0,1]^d$ in the $d$-dimensional Euclidean space. Let the volume $V(S)$ of $S$ be $\tfrac12$ (I guess nothing changes for any other fixed ...
Penelope Benenati's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
344 views

Is a vertex- and edge-transitive polytope already a uniform polytope?

I want to consider (convex) polytopes $P=\mathrm{conv}\{p_1,...,p_n\}\subset\Bbb R^d$ which are both, vertex- and edge-transitive (or maybe stronger: 1-flag-transitive). Question: Is every such ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
3 votes
0 answers
187 views

Approximating any $d$-dimensional convex shape that occupies a constant fraction of its bounding box with a polytope having $\mathrm{poly}(d)$ facets

Given any convex set $A\in\mathbb{R}^d$, we denote by $V(A)$ its $d$-volume. Furthermore, given any two convex sets $A_1,A_2\in\mathbb{R}^d$, we denote by $V_{A_1,A_2}$ the $d$-volume of the symmetric ...
Penelope Benenati's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
103 views

A source for $01$-polytopes

Can you recommend any books or survey articles on $01$-polytopes, thats is, polytopes with vertices in $\{0,1\}^n$? I am less interested in random $01$-polytopes, but more in the combinatorial ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
1 vote
0 answers
154 views

Volume of a polytope as its degenerates to be lower dimensional

Consider a polytope $P$ defined by the usual inequalities $A\mathbf{x}\leq \mathbf{b}$; let me assume that $P$ is not contained in a proper subspace. A result which I believe to true, but am not ...
Ben Webster's user avatar
  • 44.7k