Many projectively unique polytopes (Q2017450)

The authors study the spaces of geometric realizations of polytopes. Let \(P\) be a convex \(d\)-polytope, and consider the vertices of \(P\) labeled with the integers from 1 to \(n\). A \(d\)-polytope \(P'\subset S^d\) with a labeled vertex set is said to realize \(P\), if there exists an isomorphism between the face lattices of \(P\) and \(P'\) respecting the labeling of their vertex sets. The realization space of \(P\) is defined as \[ RS(P)=\{V\in (S^d)^n\;: \;\text{conv}(V) \;\text{realizes} \;P\}. \] The problem starts back to 1794, when Legendre asked for the dimension of the realization space \(RS(P)\) of a given combinatorial type of polytopes. In the case of 2,3-polytopes the formula of the dimension of such polytopes was known by Legendre-Steinitz. The study of higher dimension polytopes gave birth to a source of problems and conjectures. The first problem originates with \textit{M. A. Perles} and \textit{G. C. Shephard} in [Geom. Dedicata 3, 357--363 (1974; Zbl 0299.52004)]: Problem P-S: Is it true that, for each fixed \(d\geq2\), the number of distinct combinatorial types of projectively unique d-polytopes is finite? For the case of \(d=4\), McMullen and Shephard [\textit{P. McMullen}, Discrete Math. 14, 347--358 (1976; Zbl 0319.52010)] made a bolder conjecture: Conjecture M-S: Every projectively unique 4-polytope is accounted for in Shepard's list of 11 combinatorial types of projectively unique 4-polytopes. The next problem by Legendre-Steinitz studies the higher dimension polytopes. More specifically: Problem L-S: How does, for d-dimensional polytopes, the dimension of the realization space grow with the size of the polytope? What the authors do is to answer the above problems by giving a beautiful construction of an infinity family of 4-polytopes \(CCTP_4[n]\). Their main tools are what they call cross-bedding cubical tori, short CCTs, which are cubical complexes homeomorphic to \((S^1\times S^1)\times I\). More explicitly, they prove in their first main result that: For each \(d\geq4\), there exists an infinite family of distinct d-dimensional polytopes \(CCTP_d[n]\) with \(12(n+1)+d-4\) vertices such that \(\dim RS(CCTP_d[n])\leq76+d(d+1)\) for all \(n\geq1\). The above theorem is able not only to answer the Problem L-S, but to prove also that the Conjecture M-S is wrong. Simultaneously, the authors solve the Problem P-S, for higher dimension polytopes by giving the following theorem: For each \(d\geq69\), there exists an infinite family of distinct d-dimensional polytopes \(PCCTP_d[n], \;n\geq1,\) with \(12(n+1)+60+d\) vertices, all of which are projectively unique. Moreover, by studying algebrao-geometric properties of their construction, the authors give constructions for even more projectively unique polytopes with additional properties, by proving analogue theorems of the above theorems, for inscribed polytopes. More specifically, at first they prove that if \(F\subset \mathbb{R}\) be any finite field extension over \(\mathbb{Q}\), then for any \(d\geq D=D(F)\), there is an infinite family of projectively unique \(d\)-dimensional polytopes \(PCCTP_d^F[n]\subset S_+^d,\;n\geq1,\) on \(12(n+1)+d+D(F)-9\) vertices with coordinates in \(F\), but not realizable with coordinates in \(G\), where \(G\) is any strict subfield of \(F\). In their last main result they prove that for all \(d\geq0\) large enough, there is a family of inscribed projectively unique \(d\)-polytopes \(PCCTP_d^{in}[n], \;n\geq1,\) with \(12(n+1)+d+\text{const.}\) vertices each.