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Gruber P. Convex and Discrete Geometry

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15 Combinatorial Theory of <strong>Convex</strong> Polytopes 277<br />

V(H). Since both G(F) <strong>and</strong> H are i-regular, induced <strong>and</strong> connected, this can happen<br />

only if V(F) = V(H) <strong>and</strong> thus G(F) = H. The proof of (4) is complete.<br />

By (3), all good acyclic orientations of G can be determined just by considering G.<br />

Then (4) permits us to determine those subsets of V(G) = V(P), which correspond<br />

to faces of P just by inspection of G <strong>and</strong> its good acyclic orientations. ⊓⊔<br />

Remark. There are non-isomorphic convex polytopes with isomorphic edge graphs,<br />

see the remarks after Theorem 15.7. Thus the Perles–Blind–Mani theorem cannot be<br />

extended to all convex polytopes.<br />

The actual construction of the combinatorial structure by the above proof obviously<br />

is prohibitive (one has to compute all orderings of V(P)). A more effective,<br />

but still exponential algorithm is due to Achatz <strong>and</strong> Kleinschmidt [1], but see Joswig,<br />

Kaibel <strong>and</strong> Körner [554].<br />

An extension of the Perles–Blind–Mani theorem to other families of convex polytopes<br />

is due to Joswig [553].<br />

The Boundary Complex<br />

There is an algorithm to decide whether a polytopal complex is isomorphic to the<br />

boundary complex of a convex polytope in E d ,seeGrünbaum [453], p. 92, but<br />

there is no feasible characterization of such polytopal complexes. In other words,<br />

Problem 15.4 remains unsolved. Considering the universality results of Mnëv <strong>and</strong><br />

Richter-Gebert which will be described in Sect. 15.5, <strong>and</strong> algorithmic hardness<br />

results, the chances that Problem 15.4 has a positive solution are low.<br />

The k-skeleton, k = 0, 1,...,d, of a convex polytope P is the complex consisting<br />

of all faces of P of dimension at most k. Sometimes the union of these faces is<br />

called the k-skeleton, see the proof of Theorem 14.9. Considering the k-skeleton of<br />

a convex polytope, what information on the boundary complex does it provide? An<br />

extension of an old result of Whitney [1025] says that the (d −2)-skeleton of a proper<br />

convex polytope P in E d determines the boundary complex of P, see Kalai [561].<br />

15.5 Combinatorial Types of <strong>Convex</strong> Polytopes<br />

Two natural questions on polytopes are the following.<br />

Problem 15.6. Given a convex polytope P in E d , describe the space of all convex<br />

polytopes which have the same face structure as P. This space is the combinatorial<br />

type of P.<br />

Problem 15.7. Enumerate the essentially different convex polytopes in E d . That is,<br />

enumerate the combinatorial types of convex polytopes with n vertices for n = d +<br />

1, d + 2,...,or, more generally, with n k-faces.<br />

While trivial for d = 2, these questions are difficult for d ≥ 3.

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