A zonotope and a product of two simplices with disconnected flip graphs (Q1650792)

A zonotope \(Z\) is an \(n\)-dimensional polytope which is the Minkowski sum of line segments. A zonotopal tiling of \(Z\) is a collection of zonotopes which is a polyhedral complex with support \(Z\). The poset \(P\) of zonotopal tilings of a zonotope \(Z\), ordered by refinement, is called the Baues poset of \(Z\). The minimal elements of this poset are the tight zonotopal tilings of \(Z\). Two minimal elements of \(P\) are connected by a flip if there is an element of \(P\) whose only proper refinements are these two minimal elements. The flip graph of \(Z\) is the graph whose vertices are minimal elements of \(P\) and whose edges are flips. In the paper the author gives an example of a three-dimensional zonotope whose set of tight zonotopal tilings is not connected by flips. Using this, the author shows that the set of triangulations of \(\Delta^4 \times \Delta^n\) is not connected by flips for large \(n\). In the proof a non-explicit probabilistic construction is used.