Search arXivSearch

arXiv · 1910.06377

Cayley Graphs on Billiard Surfaces, and Their Genus

Abstract

In this article we discuss a connection between two famous constructions in mathematics: a Cayley graph of a group and a (rational) billiard surface. For each rational billiard surface, there is a natural way to draw a Cayley graph of a dihedral group on that surface. Both of these objects have the concept of "genus" attached to them. For the Cayley graph, the genus is defined to be the lowest genus amongst all surfaces that the graph can be drawn on without edge crossings. We prove that the genus of the Cayley graph associated to a billiard surface arising from a triangular billiard table is always zero or one. One reason this is interesting is that there exist triangular billiard surfaces of arbitrarily high genus , so the genus of the associated graph is usually much lower than the genus of the billiard surface.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Jason Schmurr, Jaime Lynne McCartney, Joanna Grzegrzolka. 2019-10-14. Cayley Graphs on Billiard Surfaces, and Their Genus. https://doi.org/10.2140/involve.2025.18.567

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Maximal Center of Distances of Finite Ultrametric Spaces and Perfect Binary Trees

We investigate the finite ultrametric spaces $(X,d)$ that have a given cardinality of the center of distances and a minimal cardinality of the set $X$. It is shown that such spaces are isometric if and only if their centers of distances are the same. The representing trees of these spaces are characterized up to isomorphism.

math.GN

A continuous $3$-distributive frame that is not $\omega$-distributive

We give a negative answer to the question, posed by Ern\'e, whether every $3$-distributive lattice is $\omega$-distributive. More precisely, we exhibit a continuous frame that is $\kappa$-distributive for every integer $\kappa\geq 2$, but is not a wide coframe. The frame is the open-set lattice of a compact, locally compact, countably based $T_0$ topological meet-semilattice, obtained from Lawson's construction in the logarithmic form described by Goubault-Larrecq. The failure of $\omega$-distributivity is witnessed by an explicit matrix with countably many nonempty finite rows: all row joins are the same nonzero element, whereas every choice of one entry from each row has meet zero. The same space answers negatively Ern\'e's accompanying question whether every $4$-web space is a wide web space. All properties of the construction needed for these conclusions are proved directly.

math.GN

An overlooked weakening of perfect normality: Perfect regularity in spaces and locales

We introduce the notion of perfect regularity as an appropriate weakening of perfect normality, both for spaces and locales. Various characterizations are given, using Dedekind-MacNeille completions, injective hulls, and sublocales. We place the new class of perfectly regular frames among various well-studied classes of frames. We also introduce the construction of perfect regularization of a completely regular frame, compare it to Isbell's well-known booleanization construction, and argue that it is at least as important as the latter.

math.GN