The Class Edge-Reconstruction Number of a Maximal Planar Graph Is One or Two

Abstract

An edge card of a graph is obtained by deleting one edge, and a class edge-reconstruction number asks for the fewest carefully selected cards that identify the graph when its class is known. We determine the sharp universal bound for maximal planar graphs. Two selected cards always suffice, and the octahedral graph shows that two can be necessary; some maximal planar graphs are already identified by one card. The argument exploits the fact that deleting a flippable edge leaves a single quadrilateral whose two diagonals give the only possible maximal-planar completions. Degree information then rules out the competing completion, with a separate argument for graphs containing a vertex of degree three. This settles a problem posed in a 2010 survey on reconstruction numbers.