ARS MATHEMATICA CONTEMPORANEA
ISSN 1855-3966 (printed edn.), ISSN 1855-3974 (electronic edn.)
ARS MATHEMATICA CONTEMPORANEA 18 (2020) 73-86
https://doi.org/10.26493/1855-3974.1869.9f6
(Also available at http://amc-journal.eu)
Mapification of n-dimensional abstract polytopes and hypertopes
Antonio Breda d'Azevedo * ©
Department of Mathematics, University ofAveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
Received 2 December 2018, accepted 8 November 2019, published online 16 June 2020
Abstract
The n-dimensional abstract polytopes and hypertopes, particularly the regular ones, have gained great popularity over recent years. The main focus of research has been their symmetries and regularity. The planification of a polyhedron helps its spatial construction, yet it destroys symmetries. No "planification" of n-dimensional polytopes do exist, however it is possible to make a "mapification" of an n-dimensional polytope; in other words it is possible to construct a restrictedly-marked map representation of an abstract polytope on some surface that describes its combinatorial structures as well as all of its symmetries. There are infinitely many ways to do this, yet there is one that is more natural that describes reflections on the sides of (n - 1)-simplices (flags or n-flags) with reflections on the sides of n-gons. The restrictedly-marked map representation of an abstract polytope is a cellular embedding of the flag graph of a polytope. We illustrate this construction with the 4-cube, a regular 4-polytope with automorphism group of size 384. This paper pays a tribute to Lynne James' last work on map representations.
Keywords: Maps, hypermaps, representation, polytopes, hypertopes. Math. Subj. Class. (2020): 05C10, 05C25, 05C65, 05E18, 20F65
1 Introduction
This paper stands to be a tribute to Lynne James' last, and unfinished, work [9], where she outlines a method of representing topological categories, such as the categories of cell decompositions of n-manifolds, by other categories, for example the category of cell decompositions of oriented surfaces.
* This research was supported by the Portuguese national funding agency for science, research and technology (FCT), within the Center for Research and Development in Mathematics and Applications (CIDMA), project UID/MAT/04106/2019.
E-mail address: breda@ua.pt (Antonio Breda d'Azevedo)
©® This work is licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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A map is a cellular embedding of a graph (possibly with multiple edges, loops and/or free edges) on connected surfaces with or without boundary. Algebraically a map M = (Q; r0, ri; r2) is a set Q of triangular pieces of surface called flags, and 3 involutory permutations r0, ri, r2 on Q satisfying (r0r2)2 = 1 and generating a transitive group on Q called the monodromy group of the map.
An abstract n-polytope P is a partially ordered set (poset) of faces with a strictly monotone rank function of range {-1,0,..., n}, represented by a Hasse diagram with n +1 layers, where the poset obey the diamond condition and the set of flags are strongly flag-connected. Flags are maximal chains of faces, that is, vectors consisting of n + 2 faces of rank -1,0,1,..., n respectively. There is a unique least face, the (-l)-face F_i and a unique greatest face the n-face Fn. Faces of rank 0,1 and n - 1 are called vertices, edges and facets, respectively. Two flags are adjacent if they differ only by one face (entry). Flags are strongly flag-connected means that any two flags	are connected by a sequence
of flags $0 =	,..., = such that two successive flags	are adjacent
and for any i, j, n D n The diamond condition says that whenever Fi_i and Fi+i are faces of ranks i - 1 and i + 1 for some i, with Fi_i < Fi+i, then there are exactly two faces F of rank i containing Fi_i and contained in Fi+i, that is, Fi_i < F < Fi+i. In other words, the poset of the section Fi+i/Fi_i = {F G P | Fi_i < F < Fi+i} is like a diamond.
An abstract 2-polytope is just a polygon while a 3-polytope is a non-degenerate map (cellular embedding of a loopless graph on some compact connected (i.e. closed) surface), with the property that every edge is incident with exactly two faces, and every vertex on a face is incident with two edges of that face.
A n-hypertope is an extension of an n-polytope by eliminating the partial order set condition [6]. All n-polytopes are finite in this paper and n > 2 everywhere. For a further reading on polytopes we address the reader to the classical book by McMullen and Schulte [13].
2 Restrictedly-marked maps
Lynne James in [9] introduced maps representations and associate it to a non-commutative multiplication operation between map type objects. Although restrictedly-marked map representations [4] lie in a different category, they represent the same topological objects with a different perspective and semantics.
Consider the "right triangle" group r = (R0, R2} * (Ri) = (C2 x C2) * C2 generated by the three reflections R0, Ri, R2 in the sides of a hyperbolic right triangle with two zero internal angles.
Figure 1: Hyperbolic right triangle on the Poincaré disc.
A. Breda d'Azevedo: Mapification of n-dimensional abstract polytopes and hypertopes 
75
Every finite index subgroup M < r determines a finite map M = (r/M; M*R0, M*R1,M*R2), where M* is the core of M in r and each Macts as a permutation on the right cosets r/M of M in r by right multiplication. M is called the fundamental map subgroup of M (or just "map subgroup"). Let © be a normal subgroup of r with finite index n. A map is ©-conservative if M is a subgroup of ©. In this case the flags of M are n coloured under the action of ©, each colour determined by an orbit (the ©-orbit) under the action of ©. By the Kurosh Subgroup Theorem [11, Proposition 3.6, p. 120], © freely decomposes into a free product C2 * ■ ■ ■ * C2 * D2 * ■ ■ ■ * D2 * * ■ ■ ■ * = (Z1,..., Zm} for some finite number (possibly zero) of factors C2, D2 = C2 x C2 and CTO. This decomposition is unique up to a permutation of the factors [12, p. 245]. A ©conservative map can then be represented by a ©-marked map Q = (Q; z1,...,zm), where Q is the set of right cosets ©/M of M in ©, and each z = Me Zi e ©/Me (where Me is the core of M in ©). The geometric construction described in [2], which can be adapted to r [4], uses ©-slices, polygonal regions determined by a Schreier transversal for © in r. ©-slices represent the elements of Q. For example, a T-slice is a "flag" and a r+-slice is a "dart", where r+ is the normal subgroup of index 2 in r consisting of the words of even length on R0, R1, R2. The group generated by z1,..., zm, called the monodromy group of Q (denoted Mon(Q)), or the ©-monodromy group of M, acts transitively on the set of the ©-slices Q.
A covering, or morphism, ^ from a ©-marked map Q1 = (Q1; z1,... ,zm) to another ©-marked map Q2 = (Q2; z1,... ,z'm) is a function ^: Q1 —> Q2 that commutes the diagram
Q1 x Mon(Q1) -> Q1


Q2 x Mon(Q2) -> Q2
An automorphism of Q is just a bijective covering from Q to Q. A ©-marked map Q is regular, or the r-marked map M is ©-regular, if M is a normal subgroup of ©. In this case the automorphism group of Q, which is the automorphism group of M preserving each ©-orbit, coincides with the monodromy group Mon(Q), but with different action on Q. For a more detailed exposition see [2]; though the focus here has been hypermaps the results are easily adapted to maps (see [4]).
By a restrictedly-regular (or resctrictly-regular) map we mean a map that is ©-regular for some (finite index) normal subgroup © < r. In a similar way as done in [2], not all maps are restrictedly-regular. However, any group G is the monodromy group (and hence the automorphism group) of a restrictedly-regular map ([3, Lemma 2.2] easily adapted to r).
i: z
3 Algebraic representation of finite n-polytopes
A Coxeter group is a group with presentation (s0, s1;..., sn-1 | s2 = (sisj)Pi = 1} where pij > 2 is a positive integer possibly to. If pij = to then the relation (sisj-)Pi is vacuous and is not considered in the above presentation. Let P be an abstract n-polytope, and denote by Qp the set of flags of P. As an immediate consequence of the diamond condition, for any flag $ e Qp and for any 0 < i < n - 1, the set {$' e QP | Fj($') = Fj($), Vj = i}, where Fj($) is the face of rank j of contains exactly two elements, being $ one of them. Denote by $ri = the other flag of
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this set. Then we have n permutations r = f]($, for i e {0,1,..., n - 1}, giving rise to a transitive permutation group G(P) = (r0, ri,..., r„_i) on Qp, called the connection group (or monodromy group) of P, that describes the polytope P: each rank i face Fi for i e {0,1,..., n - 1}, corresponds to an orbit of (r0,..., r,..., rn-1) on Qp, where ri denotes the absence of ri. In fact, if Fi is a face of rank i and $ and ^ are two flags containing Fi, then by strong connectedness
$(ro, .. . ,ri, .. . ,rn_i) = ^(ro,.. . ,ri, .. . ,rn_i).
So $(r0,..., ri,..., rn-1) is the set of all flags containing the common i-face Fi. An i-face $(r0,..., r,..., rn-1) is incident to a j-face ^(r0,..., rj,..., rn-1) (i = j) if and only if $(r0,..., ri,..., rn-1) n ^(r0,..., rj,..., rn-1) = 0; so incidence corresponds to non-empty intersection.
Hence the polytope P can be identified with the n +1 tuple (Qp; r0, r1,..., rn-1). Two such n +1 tuples (Q1; r0, r1,..., rn-1) and (Q2; s0, s1,..., sn_1) are isomorphic if there is a bijection f from Q1 to Q2 that satisfy wri f = wf si for every w e Q1 and i e {0,1,. .. ,n - 1}.
Denote by An-1 the Coxeter group (So, S1,..., Sn-1 | S? = 1). Then we have a natural epimorphism n: An-1 ^ G(P), mapping each Si to ri, inducing an action $d := $dn of An-1 on Qp. Similarly to [ , §1.2], fixing a flag $ e Qp and letting P be the stabiliser of $ in An-1, then An-1 acts on A„_1j/P by right multiplication, inducing a bijective function : An-1/P ^ Qp, Pd ^ $dn. The kernel of n isthecore P * of P in An_ 11 and the group An_ 1/P* acts transitively on An_ 1 / P by right multiplication in a similar way as G(P) acts on Qp. Hence the polytope (Qp; r0, r1,..., rn_1) is isomorphic to (An_1/P; P*So, P*S1,..., P* Sn_ 1). Every polytope P is described by such (n +1)-tuples; the converse is false. The set of all such (n+1)-tuples will be called for the moment the set of (n - 1)-hypermaps (see also Section 7). So both n-polytopes and n-hypertopes are (n - 1)-hypermaps, the converse is false. The subgroup P will be called a fundamental subgroup of P. This is unique up to a conjugacy in An_1.
A (n - 1)-hypermap H = (Qp; r0, r1,..., rn_1) is regular if the connection group acts regularly on Q; this is equivalent to say that the fundamental subgroup P is normal in An_1. In such case P* = P and, up to an (n - 1)-hypermap isomorphism, Q = An_1/ P = G is the connection group, which coincides with the automorphism group of H. The action of G on Q = G as a connection group is done by right multiplication, while as automorphism group is done by left multiplication.
A string Coxeter group of type [k1, k2,..., kn_1] (k1 > 2, k2 > 2, ..., kn_1 > 2) is a Coxeter group (S0, S1,..., Sn_1 | S? = 1) satisfying the Dynking diagram (or string diagram) of type [k1, k2,..., kn_1]:
k\ k/2 k k^ k-i •-•-•-:—•-•— -•-•
SQ	Q	Q	Q	Cf
0	S1	S2	S3	S4	Sn-1
A regular polytope P is of type [k1, k2,..., kn_ 1] if its automorphism group (or connection group) is a smooth quotient of a string Coxeter group An_1 of type [k1, k2,..., kn_1].
For additional details on polytopes and related subjects we address the reader to [14].
1Let a: G(P) ^ Sn be the action homomorphism of G(P) on Q, then na: An-1 ^ Sn (right action
notation) is the action homomorphism of An-1 on Q. As G(P) acts faithfully on Q, then P* = Ker(na) =
n-1 (Ker(a)) = n-1(1) = Ker(n).
A. Breda d'Azevedo: Mapification of n-dimensional abstract polytopes and hypertopes 77
4 Topological approach to n-polytopes and n-hypertopes
Polytopes appear in the literature both as abstract and geometric. Hypertopes have been essentially introduced as abstract constructions. There is a topological construction that is relevant for what follows later in Section 8. From the example below (Section 6) one see that a flag of the hypercube can be associated to a tetrahedron, that is, a 3-simplex. Replacing faces in the poset of a polytope (hypertope) by simplices and the rank function by the dimension function, under the same conditions, we get an abstract simplicial complex model of a polytope (hypertope).
Towards a more topological approach, let a n-flag be an (n - 1)-simplex with its n vertices labelled 0,1,..., n - 1 and its n facets labelled by the opposite vertex label. Let also Q be a set of n-flags.
1 C
HQ 0
2-flag
2
3-flag
4-flag
1 0
5-flag
Figure 2: Example of n-flags.
2
2
1
For each i G {0,1,..., n - 1} we denote by the transposition t = (a, b) the joining of two n-flags a, b G Q along their facet labelled i so that its facet's vertex numbers match up, and call it an i-transposition. Denote by r the product of i-transpositions recording those pairs of n-flags that are joined by their i-labelled facets; r = 1 just means that no pairs of n-flags are joined by their facets labelled i. The group G = (r0, ri,..., rn-1) records all the existing joining between the n-flags. We call it a connection group (or monodromy group). If this group acts transitively on Q then (Q; r0, r1,..., rn-1) describes a topological/algebraic object isomorphic2 to an (n - 1)-hypermap. Call it n-hyperplex3. Since n-flags are only connected by their facets, no k-face, for k < n - 1, can occur as the intersection of two consecutive n-flags. Moreover, if an n-flag is fixed by some r this means that the facet labelled i of the flag is on the boundary. Thus boundary cannot be made of k-faces for k < n - 1. Thus if two n-flags have in common a k-face (k < n - 1) then necessarily there must be a sequence of n-flags that intersect two by two on a facet containing the k-face. Hence by construction, if this connection group acts transitively on Q it does so strongly transitively.
This bring polytopes (hypertopes) close to Piecewise Linear Manifolds (PL-manifolds).
5 Regular representation of n-polytopes by restrictedly-marked maps
Following Lynne's ideas [9], and more explicitly the notations and definitions expressed in [4], a regular representation of (n-1)-hypermaps by restrictedly-marked maps is a (m+1)-tuple (©; X0, X1,..., Xm-1), consisting of a normal subgroup © of r freely generated by X0, X1,..., Xm-1 for some m > n, together with an epimorphism p from © to An-1.
isomorphisms taken in the same sense as isomorphisms between ©-marked maps defined in Section 3.
3Terminology introduced by Steve Wilson in BIRS Workshop 17w5162, Canada, 2017.
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Such representation gives rise to a bijection between the set of (n - 1)-hypermaps P with fundamental subgroup H to the set of regular ©-marked maps with fundamental subgroup Hp-1, henceforth a representation of n-polytopes (or n-hypertopes).
r = C2 * D2 = (Rl>*(Ro,R2>
© -^ A„-1 = (So, Si, ... , Sn-1 >
Q ■
©-marked i TT map ^ Hp-1 -» H
P
Theorem 5.1. There is a regular restrictedly-marked representation of n-polytopes such that:
(1)	n-flags ((n — 1)-simplices for n-polytopes and -hypertopes) correspond to n-gons;
(2)	local reflections about facets of an n-flag corresponds to local reflections on the sides of the n-gon;
(3)	the (full) automorphism group of the n-polytope (-hypertope) is the (full) automorphism group of the restrictedly marked map;
(4)	the n-polytope (-hypertope) is orientable if and only if the restrictedly marked map is orientable.
Proof. Lynne James's first example [9], more specifically the example given by the alternative construction, gives an answer to this question for n = 4. The proof could be resumed to find a normal subgroup © of r which is freely generated by reflections. However there are only four subgroups that are freely generated by, and only by, reflections, namely
r2.l = (Ro, Rl, R2RlR2> = C * C * C2,
r2.4 = (Ri, R2, RoRiRo> = C2 * C2 * C2,
T2.5 = (Ri, R2Ro, RoRiRo> = C2 * C2 * C2, and
r4.2 = (Ri, RoRiRo, R2R1R2, RoR2RiR2Ro> = C * C2 * C2 * C2.
These solve the problem for n = 3 and 4. The following approach gives a general construction for all n > 3.
Denote by f] k (R, Rj) the product RiRj RiRj Ri... of R and Rj in alternate form, starting from Ri and counting k total factors. If k = 0 then put f]o(Ri, Rj) = 1. Now take the normal subgroup4
r — /i? i?Ri 1R2 pn„-i(fii>fi2^ 7-, in = (Ro,Ro , Ro ,...,Ro	, (R1R2) >
of rank n +1 and index 2n in r (r/rn is a dihedral group of order 2n). By the Kurosh's Subgroup Theorem [11, Proposition 3.6], these generators decompose rn as a free product
4 There is another subgroup generated by reflections and one rotation with the same decomposition as a free product C2 * C2 * C2 * • • • * CTC, it is the dual resulting from swapping R0 with R2. Another subgroup also appears with such free product decomposition C2 * C2 * C2 * • • • * CTC, however one of the C2 is generated by the rotation R0R2, instead of a reflection.
A. Breda d'Azevedo: Mapification of n-dimensional abstract polytopes and hypertopes 
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C2 * C2 * • • • * C2 * CTO. We take the epimorphism p: rn ^ A„_i by mapping each R„nk(fil,fi2) to Sk, for k = 0,1,..., n - 1, and (R1R2)n to 1. Then the regular map with dihedral automorphism group of size 2n corresponding to the quotient r/rn, called trivial rn-map, is a star graph cellular embedded in the disk, thus a boundary map with one vertex and n edges. We need to cut open this disk to its centre to create a rn-slice (see [4] for the constructing example of such a rn-slice) for the restricted rn-marked map, however we need to join it back to accomplish (R1 R2)n = 1, satisfied by the epimorphism p, to create a rn-slice for this representation p. Each (n - 1)-hypermap P, and hence each n-polytope (and each n-hypertope), corresponding to a fundamental subgroup P, is isomorphic to a rn-marked map Q with fundamental subgroup the inverse image Q = Pp-1. The rooted rn-slice for Q is the above n-gon with a distinguished flag (in black) as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Rooted r3-slice, r4-slice and r6-slice.
The monodromy group (which corresponds to the connection group of the (n - 1)-hyper-map, n-polytope or n-hypertope) is generated by the reflections on the sides of this n-gon. The isomorphism p between the restricted rn-marked map Q and P establishes the third statement. A (n - 1)-hypermap is orientable (and so is an n-polytope and an n-hypertope) if and only if any word on r0, r1,..., rn-1 that turns to be the identity has even length, that is, it can be expressed as a word on the rotations r1r2, r2r3,..., rn-2rn-1. Given that the isomorphism p sends each odd length word R^i(Rl'R2) to rj, that is also true in the restrictedly marked map representation, that is, the representation word will also be a word of even length on R0, R1,..., Rn. This establishes the last statement.	□
As it turns out from the rooted rn-slice, a restrictedly-marked map representation of an abstract polytope is a cellular embedding of the flag graph of the polytope on a connected surface without boundary. In [4] we dealt only with clean restrictedly-marked representations (of hypermaps), that is, regular restricted ©-marked map representations of n-ranked objects where the generators of © give rise to free product decompositions of © of equal rank n; this translates, for instance, to 3 generators for representations of hypermaps (rank 3 polytopes). As (n - 1)-hypermaps (n-polytopes, n-hypertopes) have rank n and rn has rank n + 1, the above restricted rn-marked map representations are not clean. As a consequence of this fact we have,
Proposition 5.2. There are infinitely many regular restricted rn-marked map representations of (n - 1)-hypermaps. Thus in general, there are infinitely many regular restrictedly-marked representations of (n - 1)-hypermaps, and so of n-polytopes and n-hypertopes.
Proof. In order to get distinct epimorphisms p: rn ^ An-1 = (S0,..., Sn-1) = C2 * C2 * • • • * C2 we just assign R^k(Rl'R2) to Sk as before, for k = 0,1,..., n - 1, and (R1R2)n to different, and non conjugate, elements in An-1. In this way we get infinitely many distinct epimorphism and hence infinitely many regular restricted rn -marked map representations of (n - 1)-hypermaps.	□
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6 Example: The hypercube
As an illustration we take the hypercube, an orientable and regular 4-polytope with 384 flags. The rooted r4-slice of the restricted r4-marked map representation is illustrated in the picture above (Figure 3). To construct the regular restricted r4-map Q that represents the hypercube, we need to join the 384 rooted r4-slices through their four sides according to the rule dictated by the side reflections ro = Ro,ri = RRl , r2 = RRlR2 and r3 = R0 .
Figure 4: Identification sides on the rooted r4-slice.
The automorphism group G of the hypercube is a Coxeter group of type [4, 3, 3] with presentation
(ro,ri,V2,r3 | r2,r\,rl,rl, (ror2)2, (ror3)2, (r^)2, (rori)4, (r^)3, (r2r3)3}.
Since it is regular, its connection group coincide with its automorphism group (only its action on the flags is different), and since the automorphism group acts regularly on the set of flags its size is the number of flags. So we may replace the set of flags by the automorphism group, in which case the action of the automorphism group on the flags is done by left multiplication while the action of the connection group is done by right multiplication. For the constructing we use the group as a connection group and automatically label its elements 1,2,3,..., being the identity element the element labelled 1, followed by the elements 2 = ro = Ro, 3 = r1 = RRl, 4 = ror1,5 = ror1ro etc, so that the first 8 label all the elements of the dihedral subgroup (ro, r1} (the central 8-gon). As the hypercube is symmetric around the central 8-gon, we only need to construct one sector, being the rest of the 7 sectors obtained by reflections and rotations about this central 8-gon. So we only need to figure out how to arrange the 48 r4-slices and the final labelling of the outside border of this sector. This is done (with the help of GAP [15]) in the figure below (Figure 5). GAP was used twice:
(i)	to ensure that each rooted r4-slice placed inside the sector does not appear when reflecting or rotating around the central 8-gon,
(ii)	to get the side-pairings between the labelled sides of the sector with the sides of the rest of the picture.
Bold numbers and letters label the sides of this sector; the red labels signalize identifications inside the same sector, while the black ones label indentifications outside this sector.
Now copy reflecting this sector about the central 8-gon we get the final picture of the hypercube (Figure 6) which reflects a r4-restrictedly regular map on an orientable surface of genus 41. Not all the sides were labelled. To complete the labelling we use the reflections and rotations about the central polygonal region. For example, the central bottom
A. Breda d'Azevedo: Mapification of n-dimensional abstract polytopes and hypertopes 
81
side labelled 37 has its right side unlabelled; label it x for a while. This x vertically mirror reflects to 37, so the x side should be identified to the side y that is the vertical mirror reflection of the identification pair of 37. There is also no arrows to instruct the identification side pairing; this is unnecessary as well since the identification is done similarly to the matching of the internal sides, which was done by following the words R0, RRl, RRl R2 and RRlR2 Rl corresponding to the sides (Figure 4); any of these words will take a rooted r4-slice to a neighbouring rooted r4-slice.
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Figure 6: The hypercube.
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7 Genus of a regular orientable n-polytope and n-hypertope
The genus g of an orientable n-polytope (resp. orientable n-hypertope) can be defined to be the genus of the orientable (n - 1)-hypermap it corresponds to, which is the genus of the regular rn-marked map representation Q without boundary. Recall that g = , where z = 2 if Q is orientable and 1 otherwise. The formula of the characteristic x (i.e. the Euler characteristic of the underlying surface of the regular rn-marked map representation) presented below is derived from the characteristic formula in [2] taking into account that the trivial rn-map is a boundary map with edges and faces on the boundary. A direct calculation can go as follows: we see from a rooted rn-slice (Figure 7) that the embedding of the n-coloured graph (flag graph in the case of polytopes and hypertopes) produces n type of faces /i, f2,..., fn determined by
Pi = rori = (ñoñi)2, P2 = ror2 = (ñoñi)R2, P3 = rirs = ((ñoñi )2)R2R1,
Pn-1 = rn-3rn-1 = ((^1) 2 ) (R2), and Pn = rn-2rn-1 = ((AoR)2)^>.
Then Fi = 2m is the number of faces of type i, where mi = |p¿ | and G = (r0,..., rn-1) is the set of n-flags. It also produces n types of edges, one for each r¿, being the number
IGI
Ei of edges of type i given by Ei = ^.
r
f_ /
9,
r^
^ / f
rio
f \v;
k . - 4 ~ r4
Figure 7: ri2-slice showing the ¿-labelled edges and the ¿-labelled faces.
Finally, as the number V of vertices is |G|, the number of edges is E = E0 + E1 + • • • + En-1 and the number of faces is F = F1 + F2 + • • • + Fn, then the characteristic x = V -E + F of a regular (n - 1)-hypermap (or a regular n-hypertope) H = (G; r0, r1,..., rn-1) is given by
|G| A 1.1.	1 1
x=
2
— + — + mi m2
+
mn_ i
+-+ 2 - n
In regular (n - 1)-hypermaps we may have m¡ = 1, so writing N = —x, we have
|G|
2N
- 2 - ( _ + _L + ••• + _L ) - n - 2 - ( i + ••• + i + i + i + i )
1 _2	^i 1	1 i 1 2 1 3 1 7 '
2N
84N,
m
n
n
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Ars Math. Contemp. 18 (2020) 105-115
the usual Hurwitz bound.
However, for regular n-polytopes, of type [mi, k2, k3,..., kn_i, mn], we have m2 m3 = • • • = mn-1 = 2, which gives the formula
|G| ( 1 1 2 - n
x = V — +— +
2 \mi mn 2 We have also m1 > 3 and mn > 3, so that
|G|
2N
n—2 _ + )
2	^ mi	'
<
12N
In particular if n > 3, then
|G| <	and N > §(3n - 10) > M(n - 4).
n - 4	"12	4
For n > 8 the minimum size of a regular polytope is |G| = 2.4n-1 (Conder [ ]), which gives N > 2.4n-2(n — 4). A better refinement for n in {3,4,5,6, 7, 8} can be made by taking the Propositions 4.1, 4.2,4.3, 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6 of [5] into account:
Table 1: Leasted values for |G| and negative characteristic N for regular n-polytopes.
n min |G| (from [ ]) min N = — x
inf
|G| > 24 |G| > 96 |G| > 432 |G| > 1728 |G| > 7776 |G| > 31104
n |G| > 2.41
1
N > -2 N > 18 N > 198 N > 1296 N > 7452 N > 38234
N > 2.4n-2(n - 4)
from |G| = 24, type [3, 3] from |G| = 108, type [3,6, 3] from |G| = 432, type [3,6, 3,4] from |G| = 1728, type [4,3,6,3,4] from |G| = 7776, type [3,6,3,6, 3,4] estimated with | G| = 32772,
type [3,..., 3]
Regular n-polytopes and their duals have the same genus. The restricted r4-map pictured in Figure 6 that represents the hypercube has genus 41 (N = 80). If we have done the same for the hypertetrahedron, an orientable and regular 4-polytope with 120 flags and automorphism group the Coxeter group of type [3,3, 3], we would end up with a regular restricted r4-map of genus 11 (N = 20).
The above formulae do not take into account the smallest dimension that a n-polytope (or n-hypertope) might be realised as a complex simplicial manifold. For this we have the genus g(M) of a piecewise linear manifold M introduced by Gagliardi [8] as being the minimum genus of any colour-graph that induces the same piecewise linear manifold M, where the genus of a coloured-graph is the minimum genus of its strongly-regular embeddings. Despite g(M) be a topological invariant, g(M) = 0 if and only if M is the (n - 1)-sphere, and g(M) coincides with usual surface genus if dim(M) = 2 and with Heegaard genus if dim(M) = 3, to calculate g(M) one needs to apply dipoles operations of addition and/or subtraction consecutively on the n-graph in order to transform it into a minimal coloured-graph embedding for M, called a crystallisation of M [7]. The genus of a crystallisation is a topological invariant and coincides with g(M). However it has been shown to be difficult to get a transition from a crystallisation to another one [16].
A. Breda d'Azevedo: Mapification of n-dimensional abstract polytopes and hypertopes 
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8 n-hypermaps as generalisation of hypermaps
Hypermap are generalisations of maps by allowing edges to join more than two vertices. They are accomplished by cellular embeddings of hypergraphs (bipartite graphs) on connected surfaces. Now n-hypermaps can also be seen as a further generalisation of hypermaps. A map is a cellular embedding of a (1-partite) graph on a connected surface (so to speak a 1-partite map). A n-hypermap, n > 1, is a cellular embedding of an n-partite graph on a connected surface (that is an n-partite map or n-coloured map) such that each vertex coloured k with 1 < k < n, is alternately surrounded by vertices coloured k - 1 and k + 1, while vertices coloured 1 (resp. n) are surrounded by vertices coloured 2 (resp. n - 1). They arise as quotients of "(n + 1)-gonal" groups. Take a hyperbolic (n + 1)-gon with zero internal angles (Figure 8 left). The dual is a cellular embedding tree (Figure 8 right) and so the Coxeter group generated by the reflections on the sides of this hyperbolic (n + 1)-gon is a free product C2 * C2 * ■ ■ ■ * C2. Each conjugacy class of a subgroup H in An determines, up to isomorphism, a n-hypermap H = (An/H; H*r0, H*r\,..., H*rn) with monodromy group Mon(H) = An/H*, where H* is the core of H in An, and
Aut(H) = NA^ (H)/H. It occurs as an orbifold of the universal hyperbolic n-hypermap illustrated in Figure 8 centre (for n = 4). A map is a 1-hypermap and a hypermap is a 2-hypermap.
These (n + 1)-gonal hyperbolic tessellations on the Poincare disc are maps. Their duals are maps whose edges are (n +1) coloured (Figure 8 right) representing hyperbolic cellular embeddings of universal (n + 1)-coloured graphs [1] or (n + 1)-GEMs ((n + 1)-graph encoding manifolds) [10].
ORCID iDs
Antonio Breda d'Azevedo © https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7099-4704 References
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Ars Math. Contemp. 18 (2020) 105-115
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