Intersection number and stability of some inscribable graphs (Q2520774)

A consequence of the Koebe-Andreev-Thurston Circle Packing Theorem is that every polyhedral graph is the edge graph of a convex polyhedron \(P\) with each edge of \(P\) tangent to a given sphere \(S\). In 1992, Schramm extended this result by showing that the sphere \(S\) can be replaced by any compact convex surface \(K\). On the other hand, there are a number of examples of \textit{noninscribable} polyhedral graphs; that is, graphs that are not edge graphs of any polyhedron inscribed in a sphere \(S\). In 1996, Rivin gave a necessary and sufficient condition for a polyhedral graph to be inscribable. The authors of this paper examine the problem of finding the inscribable graphs that can be realized as the edge graphs of a polyhedron inscribed in each convex surface `sufficiently close' to a sphere. More specifically, given \(\varepsilon > 0\) and two \(C^k\) embeddings \(S_1 : \hat{\mathbb{C}} \mathop{\to}\limits^{f_1} \mathbb{R}^3\) and \(S_2 : \hat{\mathbb{C}} \mathop{\to}\limits^{f_2} \mathbb{R}^3\) of the Riemannian sphere in \(\mathbb{R}^3\), \(S_1\) and \(S_2\) are \textit{\(\varepsilon\)-\(C^k\)-close} if the \(C^k\) norm of every coordinate component of \(f_1 - f_ 2\) is less than \(\varepsilon\). Furthermore, an inscribable graph \(G\) is \textit{\(C^k\)-stable}, if there is an \(\varepsilon > 0\) such that for every surface \(S\) which is \(\varepsilon\)-\(C^k\)-close to the unit sphere \(\mathbb{S}^2\), there is a polyhedron \(P\), inscribed in \(S\), whose edge graph is \(G\). The two main results of the authors are as follows. Let \(P\) be any convex polyhedron, and truncate each vertex \(v\) of \(P\) by a plane sufficiently close to \(v\) and transversal to every edge of \(P\) starting at \(v\). Denote the polyhedron obtained in this way by \(P_{\diamond}\), and the edge graph of \(P_{\diamond}\) by \(G(P_{\diamond})\). The authors prove that if the degree of every vertex of \(P\) is odd, then \(G(P_{\diamond})\) is inscribable and \(C^1\)-stable. Furthermore, if \(G(P)\) is the edge graph of the convex polyhedron \(P\), then the \textit{rectified graph} \(G_{+}(P)\) of \(P\) is the graph whose vertices are the edges of \(P\), and two vertices are connected by an edge if the corresponding two edges of \(P\) meet at a common vertex. The authors prove that if the degree of every vertex of \(P\) is odd, then \(G_{+}(P)\) is inscribable, and \(C^3\)-stable.