Permanental Polytopes of Doubly Stochastic Matrices

A subpolytope Γ of the polytope Ω_n of all n×n nonnegative doubly stochastic matrices is said to be a permanental polytope if the permanent function is constant on Γ. Geometrical properties of permanental polytopes are investigated. No matrix of the form 1⊕A where A is in Ω₂ is contained in any permanental polytope of Ω₃ with positive dimension. There is no 3-dimensional permanental polytope of Ω₃, and there is essentially a unique maximal 2-dimensional permanental polytope of Ω₃ (a square of side $\text{1}\text{3}$). Permanental polytopes of dimension $\text{(n}{}^2\text{?3n+4)}\text{2}$ are exhibited for each n?4.