A note on the automorphism group of certain polyhedra (Q1812758)

The author describes a method for constructing polyhedra with triangular faces. The general idea involves taking a class \(C\) of elements of the same order \(p\) from some finite group \(G\), forming a graph with vertex- set \(C\) by joining elements \(x\) and \(y\) whenever \(xy\neq yx\) and \(xy\in C\), and letting \(x\), \(y\) and \(z\) be the vertices of a triangular face (in anticlockwise order) whenever \(xyz=1\). It is shown how the tetrahedron, octahedron and icosahedron may all be constructed in this way (from the groups \(A_ 4\), \(Q_ 8\) and \(A_ 5\), respectively), and how the same method can be applied for a conjugacy class of elements of order \(p\) in the group \(\text{PSL}(2,p)\) when \(p\) is an odd prime. In many cases the chosen group \(G\) becomes the full automorphism group of the resulting polyhedron, and acts transitively on both its vertices and its ordered edges.