Three-dimensional manifolds defined by coloring a simple polytope (Q5951055)

Let \(P\) be a simple convex \(d\)-polytope, that is, each vertex is contained in precisely \(d\)~facets. For each proper coloring~\(\chi\) of the dual graph~\(\Gamma^*(P)\) of~\(P\) with \(s\)~colors the author defines a \(d\)-dimensional manifold~\(\mathcal Z(P,\chi)\) with a natural action of the elementary abelian group \(\mathbb Z_2^s\), whose orbit space is~\(P\). In the context of quasi-toric manifolds, as defined by \textit{M. W. Davis} and \textit{T. Januszkiewicz} [Duke Math. J. 62, No.2, 417-451 (1991; Zbl 0733.52006)], the case where \(P\) admits a coloring with \(s=d\) colors is of particular interest. It is known, see the reviewer's paper [Math.~Z. 240, 243-259 (2002)], that \(\Gamma^*(P)\) is \(d\)-colorable if and and only if each \(2\)-face of~\(P\) has an even number of vertices, or, equivalently, the primal graph~\(\Gamma(P)\) is bipartite. Moreover, the \(d\)-coloring is unique in this case; we write \(\mathcal Z(P)\) instead of~\(\mathcal Z(P,\chi)\), and we call \(P\) even. In the paper under review the author considers the case where \(P\) is even and \(3\)-dimensional: He proves that the \(3\)-manifold \(\mathcal Z(P)\) admits a \(\mathbb Z_2^3\)-equivariant embedding into~\(\mathbb R^4\). Further it is shown that each \(\mathcal Z(P)\) can be obtained from a finite set of \(3\)-tori (arising as \(\mathcal Z(C)\) with \(C\) being the \(3\)-cube) by applying equivariant Dehn surgery and equivariant connected sums.