Vertex-transitive polyhedra of higher genus. I (Q512259)

This article considers geometric and combinatorial symmetries of polyhedra, that is, closed, connected, orientable surfaces in \(\mathbb{E}^3\). Each such polyhedron has both a combinatorial symmetry group \(\Gamma\) and a geometric symmetry group \(G\). We say a polyhedron \(P\) is \textit{(geometrically) vertex-transitive} if \(G\) acts transitively on the vertices of \(P\). These geometric actions induce combinatorial automorphisms. For vertex-transitive polyhedra of genus at least \(2\), there are many mysteries to be solved -- in particular, there is no known complete enumeration for such objects. The main goal of the article is to establish two theorems. In Theorem \(1\), the author shows that if \(P\) is a geometrically vertex-transitive polyhedron of genus \(\mathfrak{g} \geq 2\) with geometric symmetry group \(G\), then \(G\) must act regularly, that is, simply transitively, on the vertices of \(P\). Theorem \(2\) states that there is exactly one combinatorial type of polyhedron of genus \(\mathfrak{g} \geq 2\) which can be embedded into \(\mathbb{E}^3\) with vertex-transitive tetrahedral symmetry. Moreover, this polyhedron has Schläfli type \(\{3,8\}\), has genus \(3\), and has \(12\) vertices, \(48\) edges, and \(32\) triangular faces. In section \(2\), the author describes known results regarding the symmetry groups of polyhedra of varying genus. He also notes that the proofs of the main results can be simplified by reducing to polyhedra that have been \textit{maximally triangulated}, and describes how to refine the polyhedron into such a structure. It is important to note that not every maximal face in this refinement is itself necessarily a triangle. In section \(3\), the author proves Theorem 1 by cases, focusing on the three separate Platonic rotation groups (tetrahedral, octahedral, and icosahedral) individually. In section \(4\), a directed graph with labeled edges is created from a maximally triangulated vertex-transitive polyhedron. These allow for simplified calculations relating to the core rotations of \(G\) and orbits of faces of \(P\). Sections 5 through 8 uses the constructions of section 4 to prove Theorem 2.