Linearly embedded graphs in 3-space with homotopically free exteriors (Q2346735)

An embedding of a graph into 3-space is said to be \textit{free} if the fundamental group of its complement is free, and is said to be \textit{linear} if the embedding sends each edge of the graph to a straight line segment. This paper gives three results on free linear embeddings of graphs. The first is that every linear embedding of a simple graph on at most 6 vertices and of minimum degree at least 3 is free. The second result is that for each \(n\), there are infinitely many connected simple graphs of minimum degree \(n\) that have non-free linear embeddings. The third result is that for each \(n\), there are infinitely many \(n\)-connected graphs that have non-free linear embeddings. The proofs of these last two results are constructive.