Regular map (graph theory)

In mathematics, a regular map is a symmetric tessellation of a closed surface. More precisely, a regular map is a decomposition of a two-dimensional manifold (such as a sphere, torus, or real projective plane) into topological disks such that every flag (an incident vertex-edge-face triple) can be transformed into any other flag by a symmetry of the decomposition. Regular maps are, in a sense, topological generalizations of Platonic solids. The theory of maps and their classification is related to the theory of Riemann surfaces, hyperbolic geometry, and Galois theory. Regular maps are classified according to either: the genus and orientability of the supporting surface, the underlying graph, or the automorphism group. Regular maps are typically defined and studied in three ways: topologically, group-theoretically, and graph-theoretically. Topologically, a map is a 2-cell decomposition of a compact connected 2-manifold. The genus g, of a map M is given by Euler's relation which is equal to if the map is orientable, and if the map is non-orientable. It is a crucial fact that there is a finite (non-zero) number of regular maps for every orientable genus except the torus. Group-theoretically, the permutation representation of a regular map M is a transitive permutation group C, on a set of flags, generated by three fixed-point free involutions r0, r1, r2 satisfying (r0r2)2= I. In this definition the faces are the orbits of F = , edges are the orbits of E = , and vertices are the orbits of V = . More abstractly, the automorphism group of any regular map is the non-degenerate, homomorphic image of a -triangle group. Graph-theoretically, a map is a cubic graph with edges coloured blue, yellow, red such that: is connected, every vertex is incident to one edge of each colour, and cycles of edges not coloured yellow have length 4. Note that is the flag graph or graph-encoded map (GEM) of the map, defined on the vertex set of flags and is not the skeleton G = (V,E) of the map. In general, || = 4|E|.