In six-dimensional

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...

, a six-dimensional polytope or 6-polytope is a

polytope In elementary geometry, a polytope is a geometric object with flat sides ('' faces''). Polytopes are the generalization of three-dimensional polyhedra to any number of dimensions. Polytopes may exist in any general number of dimensions as an ...

, bounded by

5-polytope In geometry, a five-dimensional polytope (or 5-polytope) is a polytope in five-dimensional space, bounded by ( 4-polytope) facets, pairs of which share a polyhedral cell. Definition A 5-polytope is a closed five-dimensional figure with vertic ...

facets A facet is a flat surface of a geometric shape, e.g., of a cut gemstone. Facet may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Facets'' (album), an album by Jim Croce * ''Facets'', a 1980 album by jazz pianist Monty Alexander and his tri ...

Definition

A 6-polytope is a closed six-dimensional figure with vertices, edges,

faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

, cells (3-faces), 4-faces, and 5-faces. A vertex is a

point Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

where six or more edges meet. An edge is a line segment where four or more faces meet, and a face is a

polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...

where three or more cells meet. A cell is a

polyhedron In geometry, a polyhedron (plural polyhedra or polyhedrons; ) is a three-dimensional shape with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices. A convex polyhedron is the convex hull of finitely many points, not all on ...

. A 4-face is a

polychoron In geometry, a 4-polytope (sometimes also called a polychoron, polycell, or polyhedroid) is a four-dimensional polytope. It is a connected and closed figure, composed of lower-dimensional polytopal elements: vertices, edges, faces (polygons), an ...

, and a 5-face is a

. Furthermore, the following requirements must be met: * Each 4-face must join exactly two 5-faces (facets). * Adjacent facets are not in the same five-dimensional hyperplane. * The figure is not a compound of other figures which meet the requirements.

Characteristics

The topology of any given 6-polytope is defined by its

Betti number In algebraic topology, the Betti numbers are used to distinguish topological spaces based on the connectivity of ''n''-dimensional simplicial complexes. For the most reasonable finite-dimensional spaces (such as compact manifolds, finite simplici ...

s and

torsion coefficient A torsion spring is a spring that works by twisting its end along its axis; that is, a flexible elastic object that stores mechanical energy when it is twisted. When it is twisted, it exerts a torque in the opposite direction, proportiona ...

s.Richeson, D.; ''Euler's Gem: The Polyhedron Formula and the Birth of Topoplogy'', Princeton, 2008. The value of the Euler characteristic used to characterise polyhedra does not generalize usefully to higher dimensions, and is zero for all 6-polytopes, whatever their underlying topology. This inadequacy of the Euler characteristic to reliably distinguish between different topologies in higher dimensions led to the discovery of the more sophisticated Betti numbers. Similarly, the notion of orientability of a polyhedron is insufficient to characterise the surface twistings of toroidal polytopes, and this led to the use of torsion coefficients.

Classification

6-polytopes may be classified by properties like "

convexity Convex or convexity may refer to: Science and technology * Convex lens, in optics Mathematics * Convex set, containing the whole line segment that joins points ** Convex polygon, a polygon which encloses a convex set of points ** Convex polytope ...

" and " symmetry". *A 6-polytope is ''

convex Convex or convexity may refer to: Science and technology * Convex lens, in optics Mathematics * Convex set, containing the whole line segment that joins points ** Convex polygon, a polygon which encloses a convex set of points ** Convex polytop ...

'' if its boundary (including its 5-faces, 4-faces, cells, faces and edges) does not intersect itself and the line segment joining any two points of the 6-polytope is contained in the 6-polytope or its interior; otherwise, it is ''non-convex''. Self-intersecting 6-polytope are also known as ''star 6-polytopes'', from analogy with the star-like shapes of the non-convex Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra. *A regular 6-polytope has all identical regular 5-polytope facets. All regular 6-polytope are convex. *A semi-regular 6-polytope contains two or more types of

regular 4-polytope In mathematics, a regular 4-polytope is a regular four-dimensional polytope. They are the four-dimensional analogues of the regular polyhedra in three dimensions and the regular polygons in two dimensions. There are six convex and ten star reg ...

facets. There is only one such figure, called 2₂₁. *A uniform 6-polytope has a symmetry group under which all vertices are equivalent, and its facets are

uniform 5-polytope In geometry, a uniform 5-polytope is a five-dimensional uniform polytope. By definition, a uniform 5-polytope is vertex-transitive and constructed from uniform 4-polytope facets. The complete set of convex uniform 5-polytopes has not been deter ...

s. The faces of a uniform polytope must be regular. *A prismatic 6-polytope is constructed by the Cartesian product of two lower-dimensional polytopes. A prismatic 6-polytope is uniform if its factors are uniform. The

6-cube In geometry, a 6-cube is a six-dimensional hypercube with 64 vertices, 192 edges, 240 square faces, 160 cubic cells, 60 tesseract 4-faces, and 12 5-cube 5-faces. It has Schläfli symbol , being composed of 3 5-cubes around each 4-face. It can ...

is prismatic (product of a

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...

s and a cube), but is considered separately because it has symmetries other than those inherited from its factors. *A ''5-space

tessellation A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety o ...

'' is the division of five-dimensional

Euclidean space Euclidean space is the fundamental space of geometry, intended to represent physical space. Originally, that is, in Euclid's ''Elements'', it was the three-dimensional space of Euclidean geometry, but in modern mathematics there are Euclidean ...

into a regular grid of 5-polytope facets. Strictly speaking, tessellations are not 6-polytopes as they do not bound a "6D" volume, but we include them here for the sake of completeness because they are similar in many ways to 6-polytope. A ''uniform 5-space tessellation'' is one whose vertices are related by a

space group In mathematics, physics and chemistry, a space group is the symmetry group of an object in space, usually in three dimensions. The elements of a space group (its symmetry operations) are the rigid transformations of an object that leave it uncha ...

and whose facets are

Regular 6-polytopes

Regular 6-polytopes can be generated from

Coxeter group In mathematics, a Coxeter group, named after H. S. M. Coxeter, is an abstract group that admits a formal description in terms of reflections (or kaleidoscopic mirrors). Indeed, the finite Coxeter groups are precisely the finite Euclidean refle ...

s represented by the Schläfli symbol with t 5-polytope

around each

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery ...

. There are only three such convex regular 6-polytopes: * -

6-simplex In geometry, a 6-simplex is a self-dual regular 6-polytope. It has 7 vertices, 21 edges, 35 triangle faces, 35 tetrahedral cells, 21 5-cell 4-faces, and 7 5-simplex 5-faces. Its dihedral angle is cos−1(1/6), or approximately 80.41°. Alte ...

* -

6-orthoplex In geometry, a 6-orthoplex, or 6-cross polytope, is a regular 6-polytope with 12 vertices, 60 edges, 160 triangle faces, 240 tetrahedron cells, 192 5-cell ''4-faces'', and 64 ''5-faces''. It has two constructed forms, the first being regular wi ...

There are no nonconvex regular polytopes of 5 or more dimensions. For the three convex regular 6-polytopes, their elements are:

Uniform 6-polytopes

Here are six simple uniform convex 6-polytopes, including the ''6-orthoplex'' repeated with its alternate construction. The ''expanded 6-simplex'' is 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 of a polyhedron. Mark a point somewhere along each connected edge. Draw line ...

of the uniform 6-simplex honeycomb, . The

6-demicube honeycomb The 6-demicubic honeycomb or demihexeractic honeycomb is a uniform space-filling tessellation (or honeycomb) in Euclidean 6-space. It is constructed as an alternation of the regular 6-cube honeycomb. It is composed of two different types of face ...

, , vertex figure is a ''rectified 6-orthoplex'' and

are the ''6-orthoplex'' and ''6-demicube''. The uniform 2₂₂ honeycomb,, has ''1₂₂'' polytope is the vertex figure and ''2₂₁'' facets.

References

* T. Gosset: ''On the Regular and Semi-Regular Figures in Space of n Dimensions'',

Messenger of Mathematics The ''Messenger of Mathematics'' is a defunct British mathematics journal. The founding editor-in-chief was William Allen Whitworth with Charles Taylor and volumes 1–58 were published between 1872 and 1929. James Whitbread Lee Glaisher was th ...

, Macmillan, 1900 * A. Boole Stott: ''Geometrical deduction of semiregular from regular polytopes and space fillings'', Verhandelingen of the Koninklijke academy van Wetenschappen width unit Amsterdam, Eerste Sectie 11,1, Amsterdam, 1910 * H.S.M. Coxeter: ** H.S.M. Coxeter, M.S. Longuet-Higgins und J.C.P. Miller: ''Uniform Polyhedra'', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Londne, 1954 ** H.S.M. Coxeter, ''Regular Polytopes'', 3rd Edition, Dover New York, 1973 * Kaleidoscopes: Selected Writings of H.S.M. Coxeter, edited by F. Arthur Sherk,

Peter McMullen Peter McMullen (born 11 May 1942) is a British mathematician, a professor emeritus of mathematics at University College London. Education and career McMullen earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Trinity College, Cambridge, and studied at ...

, Anthony C. Thompson, Asia Ivic Weiss, Wiley-Interscience Publication, 1995,

** (Paper 22) H.S.M. Coxeter, ''Regular and Semi Regular Polytopes I'', ath. Zeit. 46 (1940) 380-407, MR 2,10** (Paper 23) H.S.M. Coxeter, ''Regular and Semi-Regular Polytopes II'', ath. Zeit. 188 (1985) 559-591** (Paper 24) H.S.M. Coxeter, ''Regular and Semi-Regular Polytopes III'', ath. Zeit. 200 (1988) 3-45* N.W. Johnson: ''The Theory of Uniform Polytopes and Honeycombs'', Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Toronto, 1966 *

External links

Polytope names

Jonathan Bowers

* {{Polytopes