Acute triangulations of polyhedra and \(\mathbb R^N\) (Q452820)

An \(n\)-simplex in \(\mathbb R^n\) is said to be acute if all its dihedral angles are smaller than \(\pi/2\). The authors study the problem of subdiving convex polyhedra and the space \(\mathbb R^n\) into (not necessarily equal) acute \(n\)-simplices. They refer to such subdivisions as `acute triangulations.' A long history of this problem is surveyed, e.g., in [\textit{J. Brandts} et al., SIAM Rev. 51, No. 2, 317--335 (2009; Zbl 1172.51012)]. The main results of the paper under review are as follows: (i) acute triangulations of the \(n\)-cube do not exist for \(n\geqslant 4\); (ii) acute triangulations of the space \(\mathbb R^n\) do not exist for \(n\geqslant 5\); (iii) acute triangulations of the space \(\mathbb R^4\) do not exist if all dihedral angles are bounded away from \(\pi/2\); (iv) in \(\mathbb R^3\), the authors construct acute triangulations of the cube and the regular octahedron as well as a non-trivial acute triangulation of the regular tetrahedron.