In
four-dimensional
A four-dimensional space (4D) is a mathematical extension of the concept of three-dimensional or 3D space. Three-dimensional space is the simplest possible abstraction of the observation that one only needs three numbers, called ''dimensions'', ...
Euclidean geometry
Euclidean geometry is a mathematical system attributed to ancient Greek mathematics, Greek mathematician Euclid, which he described in his textbook on geometry: the ''Euclid's Elements, Elements''. Euclid's approach consists in assuming a small ...
, the 24-cell honeycomb, or icositetrachoric honeycomb is a
regular space-filling
tessellation
A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane (mathematics), plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to high-dimensional ...
(or
honeycomb
A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic Beeswax, wax cells built by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.
beekeeping, Beekee ...
) of 4-dimensional
Euclidean space
Euclidean space is the fundamental space of geometry, intended to represent physical space. Originally, that is, in Euclid's Elements, Euclid's ''Elements'', it was the three-dimensional space of Euclidean geometry, but in modern mathematics ther ...
by regular
24-cell
In geometry, the 24-cell is the convex regular 4-polytope (four-dimensional analogue of a Platonic solid) with Schläfli symbol . It is also called C24, or the icositetrachoron, octaplex (short for "octahedral complex"), icosatetrahedroid, oct ...
s. It can be represented by
Schläfli symbol
In geometry, the Schläfli symbol is a notation of the form \ that defines regular polytopes and tessellations.
The Schläfli symbol is named after the 19th-century Swiss mathematician Ludwig Schläfli, who generalized Euclidean geometry to more ...
.
The
dual
Dual or Duals may refer to:
Paired/two things
* Dual (mathematics), a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another
** Dual (category theory), a formalization of mathematical duality
*** see more cases in :Duality theories
* Dual (grammatical ...
tessellation by regular
16-cell honeycomb
In Four-dimensional space, four-dimensional Euclidean geometry, the 16-cell honeycomb is one of the three regular space-filling tessellations (or honeycomb (geometry), honeycombs), represented by Schläfli symbol , and constructed by a 4-dimensiona ...
has Schläfli symbol . Together with the
tesseractic honeycomb
In four-dimensional euclidean geometry, the tesseractic honeycomb is one of the three regular space-filling tessellations (or honeycombs), represented by Schläfli symbol , and constructed by a 4-dimensional packing of tesseract facets.
Its verte ...
(or 4-cubic honeycomb) these are the only regular tessellations of Euclidean 4-space.
Coordinates
The 24-cell honeycomb can be constructed as the
Voronoi tessellation Voronoi or Voronoy is a Slavic masculine surname; its feminine counterpart is Voronaya. It may refer to
*Georgy Voronoy (1868–1908), Russian and Ukrainian mathematician
**Voronoi diagram
**Weighted Voronoi diagram
** Voronoi deformation density
** ...
of the D
4 or
F4 root lattice. Each 24-cell is then centered at a D
4 lattice point, i.e. one of
:
These points can also be described as
Hurwitz quaternion In mathematics, a Hurwitz quaternion (or Hurwitz integer) is a quaternion whose components are ''either'' all integers ''or'' all half-integers (halves of odd integers; a mixture of integers and half-integers is excluded). The set of all Hurwitz qua ...
s with even square norm.
The vertices of the honeycomb lie at the deep holes of the D
4 lattice. These are the Hurwitz quaternions with odd square norm.
It can be constructed as a
birectified tesseractic honeycomb, by taking a
tesseractic honeycomb
In four-dimensional euclidean geometry, the tesseractic honeycomb is one of the three regular space-filling tessellations (or honeycombs), represented by Schläfli symbol , and constructed by a 4-dimensional packing of tesseract facets.
Its verte ...
and placing vertices at the centers of all the square faces. The
24-cell
In geometry, the 24-cell is the convex regular 4-polytope (four-dimensional analogue of a Platonic solid) with Schläfli symbol . It is also called C24, or the icositetrachoron, octaplex (short for "octahedral complex"), icosatetrahedroid, oct ...
facets exist between these vertices as ''rectified 16-cells''. If the coordinates of the tesseractic honeycomb are integers (i,j,k,l), the ''birectified tesseractic honeycomb'' vertices can be placed at all permutations of half-unit shifts in two of the four dimensions, thus: (i+½,j+½,k,l), (i+½,j,k+½,l), (i+½,j,k,l+½), (i,j+½,k+½,l), (i,j+½,k,l+½), (i,j,k+½,l+½).
Configuration
Each 24-cell in the 24-cell honeycomb has 24 neighboring 24-cells. With each neighbor it shares exactly one octahedral cell.
It has 24 more neighbors such that with each of these it shares a single vertex.
It has no neighbors with which it shares only an edge or only a face.
The
vertex figure
In geometry, a vertex figure, broadly speaking, is the figure exposed when a corner of a polyhedron or polytope is sliced off.
Definitions
Take some corner or Vertex (geometry), vertex of a polyhedron. Mark a point somewhere along each connect ...
of the 24-cell honeycomb is a
tesseract
In geometry, a tesseract is the four-dimensional analogue of the cube; the tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of six square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of eig ...
(4-dimensional cube). So there are 16 edges, 32 triangles, 24 octahedra, and 8 24-cells meeting at every vertex. The
edge figure
In geometry, a vertex figure, broadly speaking, is the figure exposed when a corner of a polyhedron or polytope is sliced off.
Definitions
Take some corner or vertex of a polyhedron. Mark a point somewhere along each connected edge. Draw lines ...
is a
tetrahedron
In geometry, a tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, six straight edges, and four vertex corners. The tetrahedron is the simplest of all the o ...
, so there are 4 triangles, 6 octahedra, and 4 24-cells surrounding every edge. Finally, the
face figure
In geometry, a vertex figure, broadly speaking, is the figure exposed when a corner of a polyhedron or polytope is sliced off.
Definitions
Take some corner or vertex of a polyhedron. Mark a point somewhere along each connected edge. Draw lines ...
is a triangle, so there are 3 octahedra and 3 24-cells meeting at every face.
Cross-sections
One way to visualize a 4-dimensional figure is to consider various 3-dimensional
cross-sections. That is, the intersection of various hyperplanes with the figure in question. Applying this technique to the 24-cell honeycomb gives rise to various 3-dimensional honeycombs with varying degrees of regularity.
A ''vertex-first'' cross-section uses some hyperplane
orthogonal
In mathematics, orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''.
By extension, orthogonality is also used to refer to the separation of specific features of a system. The term also has specialized meanings in ...
to a line joining opposite vertices of one of the 24-cells. For instance, one could take any of the coordinate hyperplanes in the coordinate system given above (i.e. the planes determined by ''x''
''i'' = 0). The cross-section of by one of these hyperplanes gives a
rhombic dodecahedral honeycomb
The rhombic dodecahedral honeycomb (also dodecahedrille) is a space-filling tessellation (or honeycomb) in Euclidean 3-space. It is the Voronoi diagram of the face-centered cubic sphere-packing, which has the densest possible packing of equal s ...
. Each of the rhombic dodecahedra corresponds to a maximal cross-section of one of the 24-cells intersecting the hyperplane (the center of each such (4-dimensional) 24-cell lies in the hyperplane). Accordingly, the rhombic dodecahedral honeycomb is the
Voronoi tessellation Voronoi or Voronoy is a Slavic masculine surname; its feminine counterpart is Voronaya. It may refer to
*Georgy Voronoy (1868–1908), Russian and Ukrainian mathematician
**Voronoi diagram
**Weighted Voronoi diagram
** Voronoi deformation density
** ...
of the D
3 root lattice (a
face-centered cubic
In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals.
There are three main varieties of ...
lattice). Shifting this hyperplane halfway to one of the vertices (e.g. ''x''
''i'' = ½) gives rise to a regular
cubic honeycomb
The cubic honeycomb or cubic cellulation is the only proper regular space-filling tessellation (or honeycomb) in Euclidean 3-space made up of cubic cells. It has 4 cubes around every edge, and 8 cubes around each vertex. Its vertex figure is a re ...
. In this case the center of each 24-cell lies off the hyperplane. Shifting again, so the hyperplane intersects the vertex, gives another rhombic dodecahedral honeycomb but with new 24-cells (the former ones having shrunk to points). In general, for any integer ''n'', the cross-section through ''x''
''i'' = ''n'' is a rhombic dodecahedral honeycomb, and the cross-section through ''x''
''i'' = ''n'' + ½ is a cubic honeycomb. As the hyperplane moves through 4-space, the cross-section morphs between the two periodically.
A ''cell-first'' cross-section uses some hyperplane parallel to one of the octahedral cells of a 24-cell. Consider, for instance, some hyperplane orthogonal to the vector (1,1,0,0). The cross-section of by this hyperplane is a
rectified cubic honeycomb
The cubic honeycomb or cubic cellulation is the only proper regular space-filling tessellation (or honeycomb) in Euclidean 3-space made up of cubic cells. It has 4 cubes around every edge, and 8 cubes around each vertex. Its vertex figure is a r ...
. Each
cuboctahedron
A cuboctahedron is a polyhedron with 8 triangular faces and 6 square faces. A cuboctahedron has 12 identical vertices, with 2 triangles and 2 squares meeting at each, and 24 identical edges, each separating a triangle from a square. As such, it ...
in this honeycomb is a maximal cross-section of a 24-cell whose center lies in the plane. Meanwhile, each
octahedron
In geometry, an octahedron (plural: octahedra, octahedrons) is a polyhedron with eight faces. The term is most commonly used to refer to the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at ea ...
is a boundary cell of a (4-dimensional) 24-cell whose center lies off the plane. Shifting this hyperplane till it lies halfway between the center of a 24-cell and the boundary, one obtains a
bitruncated cubic honeycomb
The bitruncated cubic honeycomb is a space-filling tessellation (or honeycomb) in Euclidean 3-space made up of truncated octahedra (or, equivalently, bitruncated cubes). It has 4 truncated octahedra around each vertex. Being composed entirely of ...
. The cuboctahedra have shrunk, and the octahedra have grown until they are both
truncated octahedra
In geometry, the truncated octahedron is the Archimedean solid that arises from a regular octahedron by removing six pyramids, one at each of the octahedron's vertices. The truncated octahedron has 14 faces (8 regular hexagon, hexagons and 6 Squa ...
. Shifting again, so the hyperplane intersects the boundary of the central 24-cell gives a rectified cubic honeycomb again, the cuboctahedra and octahedra having swapped positions. As the hyperplane sweeps through 4-space, the cross-section morphs between these two honeycombs periodically.
Kissing number
If a
3-sphere
In mathematics, a 3-sphere is a higher-dimensional analogue of a sphere. It may be embedded in 4-dimensional Euclidean space as the set of points equidistant from a fixed central point. Analogous to how the boundary of a ball in three dimensi ...
is
inscribed
{{unreferenced, date=August 2012
An inscribed triangle of a circle
In geometry, an inscribed planar shape or solid is one that is enclosed by and "fits snugly" inside another geometric shape or solid. To say that "figure F is inscribed in figur ...
in each hypercell of this tessellation, the resulting arrangement is the densest known regular
sphere packing
In geometry, a sphere packing is an arrangement of non-overlapping spheres within a containing space. The spheres considered are usually all of identical size, and the space is usually three-dimensional Euclidean space. However, sphere packing p ...
in four dimensions, with the
kissing number
In geometry, the kissing number of a mathematical space is defined as the greatest number of non-overlapping unit spheres that can be arranged in that space such that they each touch a common unit sphere. For a given sphere packing (arrangement of ...
24. The packing density of this arrangement is
:
Each inscribed
3-sphere
In mathematics, a 3-sphere is a higher-dimensional analogue of a sphere. It may be embedded in 4-dimensional Euclidean space as the set of points equidistant from a fixed central point. Analogous to how the boundary of a ball in three dimensi ...
kisses 24 others at the centers of the octahedral facets of its 24-cell, since each such octahedral cell is shared with an adjacent 24-cell. In a unit-edge-length tessellation, the diameter of the spheres (the distance between the centers of kissing spheres) is .
Just outside this surrounding shell of 24 kissing 3-spheres is another less dense shell of 24 3-spheres which do not kiss each other or the central 3-sphere; they are inscribed in 24-cells with which the central 24-cell shares only a single vertex (rather than an octahedral cell). The center-to-center distance between one of these spheres and any of its shell neighbors or the central sphere is 2.
Alternatively, the same sphere packing arrangement with kissing number 24 can be carried out with smaller 3-spheres of edge-length-diameter, by locating them at the centers and the vertices of the 24-cells. (This is equivalent to locating them at
the vertices of a 16-cell honeycomb of unit-edge-length.) In this case the central 3-sphere kisses 24 others at the centers of the cubical facets of
the three tesseracts inscribed in the 24-cell. (This is the
unique body-centered cubic packing of edge-length spheres of the tesseractic honeycomb.)
Just outside this shell of kissing 3-spheres of diameter 1 is another less dense shell of 24 non-kissing 3-spheres of diameter 1; they are centered in the adjacent 24-cells with which the central 24-cell shares an octahedral facet. The center-to-center distance between one of these spheres and any of its shell neighbors or the central sphere is .
Symmetry constructions
There are five different
Wythoff construction
In geometry, a Wythoff construction, named after mathematician Willem Abraham Wythoff, is a method for constructing a uniform polyhedron or plane tiling. It is often referred to as Wythoff's kaleidoscopic construction.
Construction process
...
s of this tessellation as a
uniform polytope
In geometry, a uniform polytope of dimension three or higher is a vertex-transitive polytope bounded by uniform facets. The uniform polytopes in two dimensions are the regular polygons (the definition is different in 2 dimensions to exclude vert ...
. They are geometrically identical to the regular form, but the symmetry differences can be represented by colored 24-cell facets. In all cases, eight 24-cells meet at each vertex, but the vertex figures have different symmetry generators.
See also
Other uniform honeycombs in 4-space:
*
Truncated 5-cell honeycomb
*
Omnitruncated 5-cell honeycomb
In Four-dimensional space, four-dimensional Euclidean geometry, the 4-simplex honeycomb, 5-cell honeycomb or pentachoric-dispentachoric honeycomb is a space-filling tessellation honeycomb (geometry), honeycomb. It is composed of 5-cells and recti ...
*
Truncated 24-cell honeycomb
In four-dimensional Euclidean geometry, the truncated 24-cell honeycomb is a uniform space-filling honeycomb. It can be seen as a truncation of the regular 24-cell honeycomb, containing tesseract and truncated 24-cell cells.
It has a uniform alte ...
*
Rectified 24-cell honeycomb
In Four-dimensional space, four-dimensional Euclidean geometry, the rectified 24-cell honeycomb is a uniform space-filling honeycomb (geometry), honeycomb. It is constructed by a Rectification (geometry), rectification of the regular 24-cell honeyc ...
*
Snub 24-cell honeycomb
In four-dimensional Euclidean geometry, the snub 24-cell honeycomb, or snub icositetrachoric honeycomb is a uniform space-filling tessellation (or honeycomb) by snub 24-cells, 16-cells, and 5-cells. It was discovered by Thorold Gosset with his 1900 ...
Notes
References
*
Coxeter, H.S.M. ''
Regular Polytopes
In mathematics, a regular polytope is a polytope whose symmetry group acts transitively on its flags, thus giving it the highest degree of symmetry. All its elements or -faces (for all , where is the dimension of the polytope) — cells, ...
'', (3rd edition, 1973), Dover edition, p. 296, Table II: Regular honeycombs
* Kaleidoscopes: Selected Writings of H.S.M. Coxeter, edited by F. Arthur Sherk, Peter McMullen, Anthony C. Thompson, Asia Ivic Weiss, Wiley-Interscience Publication, 1995,
** (Paper 24) H.S.M. Coxeter, ''Regular and Semi-Regular Polytopes III'',
ath. Zeit. 200 (1988) 3-45* George Olshevsky, ''Uniform Panoploid Tetracombs'', Manuscript (2006) ''(Complete list of 11 convex uniform tilings, 28 convex uniform honeycombs, and 143 convex uniform tetracombs)'' - Model 88
* o4o3x3o4o, o3x3o *b3o4o, o3x3o *b3o4o, o3x3o4o3o, o3o3o4o3x - icot - O88
{{Honeycombs
5-polytopes
Honeycombs (geometry)
Regular tessellations