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Abstract

We present a 16-vertex tetrahedralization of S3 (the 3-sphere) for which no topological bistellar flip other than a 1-to-4 flip (i.e., a vertex insertion) is possible. This answers a question of Altshuler et al. which asked if any two n-vertex tetrahedralizations of S3 are connected by a sequence of 2-to-3 and 3-to-2 flips. The corresponding geometric question is whether two tetrahedralizations of a finite point set S in Ropf3 in ldquogeneral positionrdquo are always related via a sequence of geometric 2-to-3 and 3-to-2 flips. Unfortunately, we show that this topologically unflippable complex and others with its properties cannot be geometrically realized in Ropf3.

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