An algebraic proof of 1-extension

Source abstract

We give a new proof that 1-extension preserves generic local rigidity of bar-joint frameworks in all dimensions. The proof does not use a special position argument, which makes the approach potentially useful for X-replacement in 3-space. Instead, the balancing conditions recently introduced by the first author use directed paths in the line graph, and by modifying the end of these paths, we transfer a self-stress on the 1-extended graph back to the original. Treating the new vertex as variable allows us to extract the balancing condition of the smaller graph as one coefficient of a homogeneous quadratic. A Lean 4 formalization of the main results accompanies the paper.