On the nonexistence of \(k\)-reptile simplices in \(\mathbb R^3\) and \(\mathbb R^4\) (Q2363691)

Summary: A \(d\)-dimensional simplex \(S\) is called a \(k\)-reptile (or a \(k\)-reptile simplex) if it can be tiled by \(k\) simplices with disjoint interiors that are all mutually congruent and similar to \(S\). For \(d=2\), triangular \(k\)-reptiles exist for all \(k\) of the form \(a^2\), \(3a^2\) or \(a^2 + b^2\) and they have been completely characterized by \textit{S. L. Snover} et. al. [Discrete Math. 91, No. 2, 193--200 (1991; Zbl 0758.05044)]. On the other hand, the only \(k\)-reptile simplices that are known for \(d \geq 3\), have \(k = m^d\), where \(m\) is a positive integer. We substantially simplify the proof by Matoušek and the second author that for \(d=3\), \(k\)-reptile tetrahedra can exist only for \(k=m^3\). We then prove a weaker analogue of this result for \(d=4\) by showing that four-dimensional \(k\)-reptile simplices can exist only for \(k=m^2\).