On traces of randomly rolling polytopes

Abstract

Let $\mathcal{P}$ be a three-dimensional convex polytope resting with one of its faces on the plane. At each step, $\mathcal{P}$ is allowed to roll over a randomly selected edge of the face currently lying on the plane, until the adjacent face comes to rest on the plane. The trace of $\mathcal{P}$ is the set of all points of the plane that can be reached by a vertex of $\mathcal{P}$, starting from a fixed initial position and performing a finite sequence of rolls. We prove that if the trace of $\mathcal{P}$ has a convergent subsequence, then, with probability one, the set of points reached by the vertices of a randomly rolling copy of $\mathcal{P}$ is everywhere dense in the plane. This settles a conjecture of Hegyvári.

15 pages, 2 figures