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# Realization spaces of 4-polytopes are universal

## Jürgen Richter-Gebert and Günter M. Ziegler – 1995

Let $P\subset\R^d$ be a $d$-dimensional polytope. The {\em realization space} of~$P$ is the space of all polytopes $P'\subset\R^d$ that are combinatorially equivalent to~$P$, modulo affine transformations. We report on work by the first author, which shows that realization spaces of \mbox{4-dimensional} polytopes can be arbitrarily bad'': namely, for every primary semialgebraic set~$V$ defined over~$\Z$, there is a $4$-polytope $P(V)$ whose realization space is stably equivalent'' to~$V$. This implies that the realization space of a $4$-polytope can have the homotopy type of an arbitrary finite simplicial complex, and that all algebraic numbers are needed to realize all $4$- polytopes. The proof is constructive. These results sharply contrast the $3$-dimensional case, where realization spaces are contractible and all polytopes are realizable with integral coordinates (Steinitz's Theorem). No similar universality result was previously known in any fixed dimension.

Titel
Realization spaces of 4-polytopes are universal
Verfasser
Jürgen Richter-Gebert and Günter M. Ziegler
Datum
1995
Erschienen in
Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, volume 32, pages 403-412
Art
Text