Strong Embeddings of 3-connected Cubic Planar Graphs on Surfaces of non-negative Euler Characteristic

Meike Weiß, Alice C. Niemeyer

Published 2024-07-25Version 1

Whitney proved that 3-connected planar graphs can be embedded uniquely on the sphere. In general, such a graph may also have embeddings on different surfaces. Enami focused on cubic graphs and showed that a 3-connected cubic planar graph can be re-embedded on a surface of non-negative Euler characteristic if and only if the dual graph contains a specific subgraph. Motivated by applications to triangulated surfaces, we investigate strong re-embeddings and show that these are characterised by a subset of Enami's subgraphs. Additionally, we provide criteria for when a graph does not possess a strong re-embedding on the projective plane, the torus or the Klein bottle.