On regular polytopes

DOI10.1016/S0034-4877(13)60026-9zbMATH Open1275.52011arXiv1210.0601OpenAlexW3103844692MaRDI QIDQ362103FDOQ362103

L. J. Boya, Cristian Rivera

Publication date: 20 August 2013

Published in: Reports on Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Regular polytopes, the generalization of the five Platonic solids in 3 space dimensions, exist in arbitrary dimension $ngeq-1$; now in { m dim}. 2, 3 and 4 there are emph{extra} polytopes, while in general dimensions only the hyper-tetrahedron, the hyper-cube and its dual hyper-octahedron exist. We attribute these peculiarites and exceptions to special properties of the orthogonal groups in these dimensions: the $mathrmSO(2)=mathrmU(1)$ group being (abelian and) emph{divisible}, is related to the existence of arbitrarily-sided plane regular polygons, and the emph{splitting} of the Lie algebra of the $mathrmO(4)$ group will be seen responsible for the Schl"{a}fli special polytopes in 4-dim., two of which percolate down to three. In spite of { m dim}. 8 being also special (Cartan's emph{triality}), we argue why there are no emph{extra} polytopes, while it has other consequences: in particular the existence of the three emph{division algebras} over the reals $mathbbR$: complex $mathbbC$, quaternions $mathbbH$ and octonions $mathbbO$ is seen also as another feature of the special properties of corresponding orthogonal groups, and of the spheres of dimension 0,1,3 and 7.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1210.0601

zbMATH Keywords

polytopeshigher dimensionsorthogonal groups

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

(n)-dimensional polytopes (52B11) Combinatorial aspects of tessellation and tiling problems (05B45) Quaternion and other division algebras: arithmetic, zeta functions (11R52) Groups acting on specific manifolds (57S25) Polyhedra and polytopes; regular figures, division of spaces (51M20) Symmetry properties of polytopes (52B15)

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Cited In (11)

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• On regular polytopes of 2-power order
• Determination of the element numbers of the regular polytopes
• Exceptional Objects
• Regular polytopes in ordinary space
• On regular vertices on the union of planar objects
• Regular incidence quasi-polytopes and regular maps
• Regular incidence-polytopes with Euclidean or toroidal faces and vertex- figures
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Toric geometry of the regular convex polyhedra
• Title not available (Why is that?)

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