Orientably-regular embeddings of complete multigraphs

Abstract

An embedding of a graph on an orientable surface is orientably-regular (or rotary, in an equivalent terminology) if the group of orientation-preserving automorphisms of the embedding is transitive (and hence regular) on incident vertex-edge pairs of the graph. A classification of orientably-regular embeddings of complete graphs was obtained by L.D. James and G.A. Jones (1985) [10], pointing out interesting connections to finite fields and Frobenius groups. By a combination of graph-theoretic methods and tools from combinatorial group theory we extend results of James and Jones to classification of orientably-regular embeddings of complete multigraphs with arbitrary edge-multiplicity.