Characterizing Graphs of Zonohedra

Abstract

A classic theorem by Steinitz states that a graph G is realizable by a convex polyhedron if and only if G is 3-connected planar. Zonohedra are an important subclass of convex polyhedra having the property that the faces of a zonohedron are parallelograms and are in parallel pairs. In this paper we give characterization of graphs of zonohedra. We also give a linear time algorithm to recognize such a graph. In our quest for finding the algorithm, we prove that in a zonohedron P both the number of zones and the number of faces in each zone is O(square root{n}), where n is the number of vertices of P.