Cubature formulae for a sphere which are invariant with respect to the tetrahedral group (Q1909902)

The author derives some new rules for numerical integration over the surface of the unit 3-sphere. Two types of rules are derived: rules invariant with respect to the tetrahedral group \(T\), and rules invariant with respect to the tetrahedral group with inversion \(T^*\). The \(T\) rules use sets of points determined from projection of sets of points on an inscribed tetrahedron. The \(T^*\) rules use sets of points determined from projections of sets of points on an inscribed octahedron. For each of the two rule types a theorem is proved that provides the basic polynomials invariant with respect to the group for that rule. These polynomials are then used to produce the systems of nonlinear equations that need to be solved to determine the rule parameters. Numerical results are reported that give rule parameters for new rules of polynomial degrees 11 and 15 for \(T\), and polynomial degrees 8 and 12 for \(T^*\).