Abstract
We present a 16-vertex tetrahedralization of S3 (the 3-sphere) for which no topological bistellar flip other than a 1-to-4 flip (i.e., a vertex insertion) is possible. This answers a question of Altshuler et al. which asked if any two n-vertex tetrahedralizations of S3 are connected by a sequence of 2-to-3 and 3-to-2 flips. The corresponding geometric question is whether two tetrahedralizations of a finite point set S in ℝ3 in “general position” are always related via a sequence of geometric 2-to-3 and 3-to-2 flips. Unfortunately, we show that this topologically unflippable complex and others with its properties cannot be geometrically realized in ℝ3.
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Dougherty, R., Faber, V. & Murphy, M. Unflippable Tetrahedral Complexes. Discrete Comput Geom 32, 309–315 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00454-004-1097-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00454-004-1097-3