Schwarzite nets: a wealth of 3-valent examples sharing similar topologies and symmetries

Abstract

We enumerate trivalent reticulations of two- and three-periodic hyperbolic surfaces by equal-sided n -gonal faces, ( n , 3), where n  = 7, 8, 9, 10, 12. These are the simplest hyperbolic generalizations of the planar graphene net, (6, 3) and dodecahedrane, (5, 3). The enumeration proceeds by deleting isometries of regular reticulations of two-dimensional hyperbolic space until the ( n , 3) nets can be embedded in euclidean three-space via periodic hyperbolic surfaces. Those nets are then symmetrized in euclidean space retaining their net topology, leading to explicit crystallographic net embeddings whose edges are as equal as possible, affording candidtae patterns for graphitic schwarzites. The resulting schwarzites are the most symmetric examples. More than one hundred topologically distinct nets are described, most of which are novel.