Expansion (geometry)
In geometry, expansion is a polytope operation where facets are separated and
moved radially apart, and new facets are formed at separated elements (vertices,
edges, etc.). Equivalently this operation can be imagined by keeping facets in the
same position but reducing their size.
The expansion of a regular polytope creates a uniform polytope, but the operation
can be applied to any convex polytope, as demonstrated for polyhedra in Conway
polyhedron notation. For polyhedra, an expanded polyhedron has all the faces of the
original polyhedron, all the faces of the dual polyhedron, and new square faces in
place of the original edges.
The expansion operation is symmetric with respect to a regular polytope and its dual. The
resulting figure contains the facets of both the regular and its dual, along with various
Animation showing an
prismatic facets filling the gaps created between intermediate dimensional elements.
expanded cube (and
octahedron)
It has somewhat different meanings by dimension. In a Wythoff construction, an expansion is
generated by reflections from the first and last mirrors. In higher dimensions, lower
dimensional expansions can be written with a subscript, so e2 is the same as t0,2 in any
dimension.
By dimension:
The operation is identical to truncation for polygons, e{p} = e1{p} = t0,1{p} = t{p} and has Coxeter-Dynkin diagram .
A regular {p,q} polyhedron (3-polytope) expands into a polyhedron with vertex figure p.4.q.4.
This operation for polyhedra is also called cantellation, e{p,q} = e2{p,q} = t0,2{p,q} = rr{p,q}, and has Coxeter diagram
.
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23. 10. 2017. Expansion (geometry) - Wikipedia
For example, a rhombicuboctahedron can be called an expanded cube, expanded octahedron, as well as a
cantellated cube or cantellated octahedron.
A regular {p,q,r} 4-polytope (4-polytope) expands into a new 4-polytope with the original {p,q} cells, new cells {r,q} in place
of the old vertices, p-gonal prisms in place of the old faces, and r-gonal prisms in place of the old edges.
This operation for 4-polytopes is also called runcination, e{p,q,r} = e3{p,q,r} = t0,3{p,q,r}, and has Coxeter diagram
.
Similarly a regular {p,q,r,s} 5-polytope expands into a new 5-polytope with facets {p,q,r}, {s,r,q}, {p,q}{ } prisms, {s,r}{ }
prisms, and {p}{s} duoprisms.
This operation is called sterication, e{p,q,r,s} = e4{p,q,r,s} = t0,4{p,q,r,s} = 2r2r{p,q,r,s} and has Coxeter diagram
.
The general operator for expansion of a regular n-polytope is t0,n-1{p,q,r,...}. New regular facets are added at each vertex, and
new prismatic polytopes are added at each divided edge, face, ... ridge, etc.
See also
Conway polyhedron notation
Notes
1. Coxeter, Regular Polytopes (1973), p. 123. p.210
References
Weisstein, Eric W. "Expansion" (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Expansion.html). MathWorld.
Coxeter, H. S. M., Regular Polytopes. 3rd edition, Dover, (1973) ISBN 0-486-61480-8.
Norman Johnson Uniform Polytopes, Manuscript (1991)
N.W. Johnson: The Theory of Uniform Polytopes and Honeycombs, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Toronto, 1966
Polyhedron operators
Seed Truncation Rectification Bitruncation Dual Expansion Omnitruncation Alternations
t0{p,q} t01{p,q} t1{p,q} t12{p,q} t2{p,q} t02{p,q} t012{p,q} ht0{p,q} ht12{p,q} ht012{p,q}
{p,q} t{p,q} r{p,q} 2t{p,q} 2r{p,q} rr{p,q} tr{p,q} h{q,p} s{q,p} sr{p,q}
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