Starts at: 2025-08-12 04:00PM
Ends at: 2025-08-12 04:25PM
Abstract:
Determining how to build a minimal genus embedding of a graph is a classical and frequently challenging problem in topological graph theory. Here, we will be interested in Cartesian products of graphs where their fiber structures and symmetries can sometimes be leveraged to efficiently build embeddings and determine the genera of such graphs. More specifically, we will discuss work done towards a classification of all Cartesian products of graphs that embed on the torus where we leverage basic tools from combinatorial topology and determine the genera of certain graphs along the way. This work was part of an undergraduate summer research project with Beppy Badgett, and time permitting, we will briefly discuss ideas for future projects in this area that only requires some background in undergraduate graph theory and surface topology to get started.