On self-duality and unigraphicity for $3$-polytopes

Abstract

Recent literature posed the problem of characterising the graph degree sequences with exactly one $3$-polytopal (i.e. planar, $3$-connected) realisation. This seems to be a difficult problem in full generality. In this paper, we characterise the sequences with exactly one self-dual $3$-polytopal realisation. An algorithm in the literature constructs a self-dual $3$-polytope for any admissible degree sequence. To do so, it performs operations on the radial graph, so that the corresponding $3$-polytope and its dual are modified in exactly the same way. To settle our question and construct the relevant graphs, we apply this algorithm, we introduce some modifications of it, and we also devise new ones. The speed of these algorithms is linear in the graph order.