Faces of platonic solids in all dimensions

Abstract

This paper considers Platonic solids/polytopes in the real Euclidean space R^n of dimension 3 <= n < infinity. The Platonic solids/polytopes are described together with their faces of dimensions 0 <= d <= n-1. Dual pairs of Platonic polytopes are considered in parallel. The underlying finite Coxeter groups are those of simple Lie algebras of types An, Bn, Cn, F4 and of non-crystallographic Coxeter groups H3, H4. Our method consists in recursively decorating the appropriate Coxeter-Dynkin diagram. Each recursion step provides the essential information about faces of a specific dimension. If, at each recursion step, all of the faces are in the same Coxeter group orbit, i.e. are identical, the solid is called Platonic.

11 pages, 1 figure