Two Sufficient Conditions for a Polyhedron to be (Locally) Rupert

MaRDI QIDQ6408976FDOQ6408976

Authors: Evan Scott 

Publication date: 26 August 2022

Abstract: Given two cubes of equal size, it is possible - against all odds - to bore a hole through one which is large enough to pass the other straight through. This preposterous property of the cube was first noted by Prince Rupert of the Rhine in the 17th century. Surprisingly, the cube is not alone: many other polyhedra have this property, which we call being Rupert. A concise way to express that a polyhedron is Rupert is to find two orientations $Q$ and $Q^{\prime }$ of that polyhedron so that $pi(Q)$ fits inside $pi(Q^{\prime })$, with $pi$ representing the orthogonal projection onto the $xy$-plane. Given this scheme, to bore the hole in $Q^{\prime }$ we can remove $p{i}^{-1}(pi(Q))$. There is an open conjecture that every convex polyhedron is Rupert. Aiming at this conjecture, we give two sufficient conditions for a polyhedron to be Rupert. Both conditions require the polyhedron to have a particularly simple orientation $Q$, which we alter by a very small amount to get $Q^{\prime }$ as required above. When a passage is given by a very small alteration like this, we call it a local passage. Restricting to the local case turns out to offer many valuable simplifications. In the process of proving our main theorems, we develop a theory of these local passages, involving an analysis of how small rotations act on simple polyhedra.

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Three-dimensional polytopes (52B10)

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