Universally Rigid Framework Attachments

Abstract: A framework is a graph and a map from its vertices to R^d. A framework is called universally rigid if there is no other framework with the same graph and edge lengths in R^d' for any d'. A framework attachment is a framework constructed by joining two frameworks on a subset of vertices. We consider an attachment of two universally rigid frameworks that are in general position in R^d. We show that the number of vertices in the overlap between the two frameworks must be sufficiently large in order for the attachment to remain universally rigid. Furthermore, it is shown that universal rigidity of such frameworks is preserved even after removing certain edges. Given positive semidefinite stress matrices for each of the two initial frameworks, we analytically derive the PSD stress matrices for the combined and edge-reduced frameworks. One of the benefits of the results is that they provide a general method for generating new universally rigid frameworks.