Rank 3-4 Coxeter Groups, Quaternions

and Quasicrystals

Mehmet Koca
Department of Physics
College of Science
Sultan Qaboos University
Muscat-OMAN
kocam@squ.edu.om

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 1

 References
Polyhedra obtained from Coxeter groups and quaternions.
Koca M., Al-Ajmi M., Koc R. 11, November 2007, Journal
of Mathematical Physics, Vol. 48.

Catalan solids derived from 3D-root systems and quaternions.

Koca M., Koca N.O, Koc R. 4, s.l. : Journal of
Mathematical Physics, 2010, Vol. 51.

Chiral Polyhedra Derived from Coxeter Diagrams and

Quaternions, Mehmet Koca, Nazife Ozdes Koca and
Muna Al-Shueili, ", arXiv:1006.3149 [pdf], SQU Journal for
Science, 16 (2011) 63-82, 2011.

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 2

 Outline
1. Rank-3 Coxeter Groups with Quaternions and Polyhedra
 
1.1. Rank-3 Coxeter Groups with Quaternions
1.2. Quaternionic construction of vertices of Platonic and
Archimedean polyhedra with tetrahedral, octahedral and
icosahedral symmetries
1.3. Catalan solids as duals of the Archimedean solids
1.4. Novel construction of chiral polyhedra and their duals. 

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 3

 Outline
2. Rank-4 Coxeter Groups with Quaternions and 4D polytopes

 
2.1. Representations of the group elements of rank-4
Coxeter groups with quaternions
2.2. 4D polytopes with W (A 4 ) symmetry
2.3. 4D polytopes with W (B 4 ) symmetry
2.4. 4D polytopes with W (F4 ) symmetry
2.5. 4D polytopes with W (H 4 ) symmetry
2.6. Maximal Subgroups of W (H 4 ) and associated
4D polytopes, snub 24-cell and Grand antiprism

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 4

 Outline
3. Quasicrystallography from higher dimensional lattices

3.1. Quasicrystals and aperiodic tiling of the plane

3.2. Maximal dihedral subgroups of the Coxeter groups
3.3. Projection of the lattices generated by the affine
Coxeter groups onto the Coxeter plane
3.4. Affine A4 and decagonal quasicrystals
3.5. Affine D6 and Icosahedral quasicrystals
3.6. Conclusion

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 5

1.1. Rank-3 Coxeter Groups with Quaternions
O(4) transformations with quaternions
Let q  q0  qiei , i  1,2,3 be unit quaternion qq  qq  1
e i e j   ij   ijk e k , e1  i , e 2  j , e 3  k

The transformations r  prq : [ p, q ] ;

r  prq : [ p, q ]
with qq  pp  1 define an orthogonal group O(4)
leaving rr invariant.

If q  p then above transformations lead to O(3)

transformations.
1
Scalar product : ( p, q )  ( pq  q p)
2
Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 6
 Reflections
 Quaternions can be used to represent reflections and rotations in Coxeter
Groups.
Let  be an arbitrary quaternionic simple root. Then the reflection of an arbitrary
vector  with respect to the plane orthogonal to the simple root  is given by
    2
 ,     2
2

      ,  

 The reflection can be represented as:   ʌ


1      
r :                 ,  
2 2 2  2 2
-α α
Notations :rotary reflection [ p , q ]*
proper rotation [ p , q ]
where p and q are arbitrary unit quaternions
Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 7
 Finite Subgroups of Quaternions

(a) Cyclic group of order 2n generated by  p  exp( e1
n
) ,

(b) Dicyclic group of order 4n generated by


 p  exp(e1 ), e2  ,
n
(c) Binary Tetrahedral Group:
1
T  {1, e1, e2 , e3 , (1  e1  e2  e3 )}
2

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 8

 Finite Subgroups of Quaternions
(d) Binary Octahedral Group

Denote the set T   (V1  V2  V3 ) with

V1  { 12 (1  e1 ), 1
2
(e2  e3 )} , V2  { 12 (1  e2 ), 1 ( e  e )}
2 3 1 ,

V3  { 12 (1  e3 ), 12 (e1  e2 )}

Then O  T  T  represents the elements of the binary

octahedral group

(e) Binary icosahedral group I  b, c

1
c  (   e1  e2 ) , b  1 (   e1  e2 )
2 2
1 5 1 5
 , 
2 2

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 9

 Coxeter Diagrams A3, B3 and H3 with
quaternionic roots

A3 :
 
W ( A3 )  {[T , T ]  [T , T ]}:Symmetry of Tetrahedron

B 3:

W (B 3 )  A ut ( A 3 )  {[T ,T ]  [T ,T ]  [T ,T ]  [T ,T ]}:Symmetry of Cube

H3 :

W ( H 3 )  {[ I , I ]  [ I , I ]} : Symmetry of Icosahedron

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 10

 Platonic solids (regular polyhedra)
 Platonic solids are the five convex regular polyhedra. They consist of regular
polygons (triangle, square or pentagon) meeting in identical vertices. They have
identical faces of regular polygons and the same number of faces meeting at each
corner
 In geometry, polyhedra are formed in pairs called duals, where the vertices of one
correspond to the faces of the other. The dual of each platonic solid is another
platonic solid:
 Tetrahedron is self dual
 Cube and Octahedron form a dual pair
 Dodecahedron and Icosahedron form
a dual pair

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 11

Archimedean Solids (semi-regular polyhedra)
 Two or more types of regular polygons meet in identical vertices.
 There are 13 Archimedean solids.
 7 of the Archimedean solids can be obtained by truncation of the platonic solids.
 4 of the Archimedean solids are obtained by expansion of platonic solids and
previous Archimedean solids.
 The remaining 2 chiral solids are snub cube and snub dodecahedron

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 12

 Construction of polyhedra with
,
Tetrahedral Symmetry
  ,

For any Coxeter diagram,thesimpleroots αi and theirdual vectors ωi satisfy the scalarproduct
(i ,  j )  Cij , (i ,  j )  (C 1 )ij , (i ,  j )  ij ; i, j  1,2,3. i  Cij  j , i  (C 1 )ij  j .

1 1 1 1  1 1
r1  [ (e1  e2 ),  (e1  e2 )] r2  [ (e3  e2 ),  (e3  e2 )] r3  [ (e2  e1 ),  (e2  e1 )]
2 2 2 2 2 2

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 13

 A method used to construct the polyhedra
 We construct polyhedra using a method based on applying the group
elements of Coxeter-Weyl groups W(A3), W(B3) and W(H3) on a vector
representing one vertex of the polyhedron in the dual space denoted as
  a11  a22  a33  (a1a2 a3 )
 This vector is called “highest weight” . It can be expressed as a linear
combination of imaginary quaternionic units.
 Certain choices of the parameters of the highest weight vector lead to the
Platonic, Archimedean solids as well as the semi-regular polyhedra.
 The set of vertices obtained by the action of Coxeter-Weyl group elements on
the highest weight defines a polyhedron and is called the “orbit”.

 Denote by W(G)(a1a2a3)=(a1a2a3)G , the orbit of W(G)

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 14

Construction of polyhedra with Tetrahedral Symmetry
 

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 15

Construction of polyhedra with Octahedral Symmetry

The Cartan matrix of the Coxeter diagram B3 and its inverse matrix are given by
 1 
 1 1
2 1 0 
 2 
 
C   1 2  2 , C 1  1 2 2.
0  2  
 2   1
2
3 
 2 2 

The generators,

1 1 1 1
r1  [ (e1  e2 ),  (e1  e2 )] , r2  [ (e2  e3 ),  (e2  e3 )] , r3  [e3 , e3 ]
2 2 2 2
)
generate the octahedral group which can be written as

W ( B3 )  Aut ( A3 )  S4  C2  {[ p, p]  [ p, p ]  [t , t ]  [t , t ]} , p  T , t  T  .

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 16

Construction of polyhedra with Octahedral Symmetry

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012

17
Construction of polyhedra with Icosahedral symmetry
 

( )
2  0  3 𝜏2 2 𝜏3 𝜏3
1
C    2 1 𝐶𝐻
−1
= 2𝜏
3
4𝜏
2
2𝜏 .
2
3
2
 0 1 2  𝜏3 2 𝜏2 𝜏 +2

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 18

Construction of polyhedra with Icosahedral Symmetry

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012

19
Catalan Solids (Duals of Archimedean Solids)
Face transitive (faces are transformed to each other by the Coxeter-Weyl group) .
Faces are non regular polygons: scalene triangles, isosceles triangles, rhombuses,
kites or irregular pentagons. Two Catalan solids are Chiral.

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 20

The method to generate the dual polyhedra
 It is based on examining the Coxeter-
Dynkin diagram of the polyhedron
which helps in determining the type of
its faces and the center of a
representative face which
corresponds to the dual’s vertex.
 The center is a vector that is left
invariant under the action of the
dihedral subgroup that generated the
face
 For example, the Coxeter-Dynkin
diagram of can generate polyhedra
with faces listed in Table depending
on the components (Dynkin indices) Example:
of the highest weight and the is left unchanged by because
dihedral subgroups of .
.

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 21

The method to generate the dual polyhedra

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 22

 Catalan Solid Possessing Tetrahedral Symmetry
 There is only one Catalan solid that possesses tetrahedral symmetry. It is the triakis
tetrahedron (dual of truncated tetrahedron)which has 8 faces (4 triangles and 4 hexagons).
 The vertices of the truncated tetrahedron were obtained as the orbit
 A triangle of the truncated tetrahedron is generated as the orbit , so its representative center will
be .
 On the other side a hexagon is generated by and
 its center will be .
 The line joining the two centers should be orthogonal to ,
 so one of the centers should be scaled by .

 We can determine

 The triakis tetrahedron vertices are the union of the following two orbits

 the two orbits comprising the triakis tetrahedron are the vertices of two mirror images tetrahedra.

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 23

Catalan Solid Possessing Octahedral Symmetry
 There are 5Catalan solids that possesses octahedral symmetry.
 Example:Rhombic dodecahedron (dual of cuboctahedron)
 The cuboctahedron was obtained as the orbit .
 A triangle will be generated as with a center represented by
 Asquare is obtained as with a center .
 For the orthogonality condition, the scale factor multiplying can be calculated to be

 The vertices of the dual are given as the union of the following two orbits

,
The first orbit contains vertices of an octahedron and
the second orbit contains vertices of a cube. The two orbits lie on two concentric spheres.
Since 4 faces of the cuboctahedron meet at one vertex, then the dual’s face will be of 4 vertices
(that is a rhombus).

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 24

 Chiral Archimedean and Catalan solids
 

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 25

 Chirality
 Objects or molecules which cannot be superimposed with their mirror image are
called chiral. Human hands are one of the example of chirality. Achiral (not
chiral) objects are objects that are identical to their mirror image.

 In three dimensional Euclidean space the chirality is defined as follows:

The object which can not be transformed to its mirror image by proper rotations
and translations is called a chiral object.

 Chirality is a very interesting topic in

i) molecular chemistry
A number of molecules display one type of chirality; they are either left-oriented
or right-oriented molecules.

ii) In fundamental physics chirality plays very important role. For example:
 A massless Dirac particle has to be either in the left handed state or in the
right handed state.
 The weak interactions which is described by the standard model of high
energy physics is invariant under one type of chiral transformations

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 26

 Snub Cube
The proper rotational subgroup is W (B 3 ) C 2  S 4 (Symmetric group of order 4!=24)
They can be generated by the generators a  r1r2 and b  r2 r3 , a 3  b 4  (ab ) 2  1.
Let   a11  a22  a33  (a1a2a3 ) be a vector in the dual space.
The following sets of vertices form an equilateral triangle and a square respectively
(, r1r2 , (r1r2 ) 2 ), (, r2 r3, (r2 r3 ) 2  ), (r2r3 )3  ) with the respective
r1r3 r3r2
square of edge lengths:
5
2(a12 + a1a2  a2 2 ) and 2(a2 2 + 2a2a3  a32 ). 4
r1r2   1 (r3r2)2
We have another vertex r1r3   r3 r1. To have all edge 3
length equal the following equations must be satisfied 2
r2r1 r2r3
(a12 + a1a2  a2 2 )  (a2 2 + 2a2a3  a32 )  (a12  a32 )
2 a1 a3 x 2 1
Factoring by a2 and defining x  and y  one obtains y  and the cubic equation
a2 a2 2
x 3  x 2  x  1  0 which has one real solution x  1.8393.

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 27

Snub Cube
The first vertex and its mirror image   r 
I
II 1 I can be derived from
 I  a2 ( x1 +2  y3 )  II  r1 I  a2 ( x(1 -1 ) +2  y3 )
the vector and

a2 ( x 2  1) a2 ( x 2  1)
I  ( xe1 +e2  x e3 )  II 
1
(e1  xe2  x 1e3 )
can be written
2 in terms of quaternionic 2 units as
W ( B ) / C ( ) and W ( B ) / C ( )
3 2 I 3 2 II

1 1 1
O (the
deleting I ) overall
{( xe1  e 2  xfactor
scale e3 ), (the
 xe2orbits
 e 3  x e1), ( xe3  e1  x e2 )}
can easily
O ( )be determined
 {( e  xe  xas 1
e ), ( e  xe  x 1e ), ( e  xe  x 1e )}
II 1 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 2

The snub cubes represented by these sets of vertices are shown

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 28

Dual solid of the snub cube
We can determine the centers of the faces in figure below:
The faces 1 and 3 are represented by the vectors  and up to some scale 1 3

factors.
 is invariant under the rotation represented by r1r2 . In other words the
3

triangle 3 is rotated to itself by a rotation around the vector . 3

The vectors representing the centers of the faces 2, 4 and 5 can be

determined by averaging the vertices representing these faces and they lie
in the same orbit under the proper octahedral group.
r1r3 r3r2

The vector representing the center of the face 2 is 5

4
c2  (2 x  1)e1 +e 2  x 2 e3 r1r2   1 (r3r2)2
3
The scale factors multiplying the vectors 2
1 , 3 and  c2 r2r1 r2r3

x x 2
can be determined as 
2
and  2
when I represents the normal of
the plane containing these five points .

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 29

Dual solid of the snub cube

Then 38 vertices of the dual solid of the snub

cube, the pentagonal icositetrahedron, are given
in three orbits
x
O(1 )  {e1 , e2 , e3}
2
1
O(3 )  (e1  e2  e3 )
2
x 2
O( c2 )  {[(2 x  1)e1  e2  x 2e3 ],[ (2 x  1)e2  e3  x 2e1],[(2 x  1)e3  e1  x 2e 2 ]}
2

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 30

Snub Dodecahedron
The proper rotational subgroup W(H3)/C2 is the simple finite subgroup of
order 60.
They can be generated by the generators a  r1r2 and b  r2 r3 , a  b  (ab)  1
5 3 2

Let   (a1a2 a3 ) be a general vector in the dual basis.

The following sets of vertices form

a pentagon and an equilateral triangle r2 r1 r2 r3 
(r1r2 )3 
(, rr
1 2, (rr
2
1 2 ) , (rr
3
1 2) , (rr
4
1 2) ),
2
(, r2r3, (r2r3) ), 2
1
with the respective square of edge lengths: 3  r3 r2 
5
2 2 2
2( a   a1a2  a2 ) and 2(a2  a2 a3  a3 ) 2 2
(r1 r2 ) 
4
1
r1r2  r1 r3 
We have another vertex : r1r3  r3r1
Let all edge lengths be the same.
2 2 2 2 2 2
The following equation is satisfied (a1   a1a2  a2 )  (a2  a2 a3  a3 )  (a1  a3 )

The equation x3  x 2  x    0 has the real solution x  1.94315

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 31
Snub Dodecahedron

The first orbit and its mirror image can be obtained from the vectors
expressed in terms of quaternionic units as
a2 a2
I  [ ( x 2  1)e1  xe 2  (1   x3 )e3 ]  II  [  ( x 2  1)e1  xe 2  (1   x 3 )e3 ]
2 2

The snub dodecahedrons represented by the orbits of these vectors

W ( H ) / C ( ) and W ( H ) / C ( )
3 2 I 3 2 II

are shown:

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 32

Dual solid of the snub dodecahedron

The vertices of the dual solid of the snub dodecahedron represented byW ( H 3
) / C 2 ( I )
can be given as the union of three orbits of the group W(H3)/C2.
The first orbit O(1 ) consists of 20 vertices of a dodecahedron.
The second orbit consists of 12 vertices of an
icosahedron O(3 ) where
r2 r1 r2 r3 
2
3 x   x  2   3
(r1r2 ) 
 2
x 2  (2   ) x  1 1
3  r3 r2 
5
The third orbit O(c2 ) involves the vertices (r1 r2 )2 
4
including the centers of the faces 2, 4 and 5 where r1r2  r1 r3 
the vector  c2 is given by

1 3 x 2   3 x    2
 c2  2
{[(2  1) x 2   x  1]e1  ( x 2  3 x  3)e2   3 ( x3   )e3}
2 (21  20) x  (21  17) x  21  11

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 33

Dual solid of the snub dodecahedron

Applying the group A5  [ I , I ] on the vector  c2 one generates an

orbit of size 60.
The 92 vertices consisting of these three orbits constitute dual
solid of the snub dodecahedron, pentagonal hexecontahedron.
It is one of the face transitive Catalan solid which has 92
vertices, 180 edges and 60 faces.

Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012 34

 Summary

In this work a systematic construction of all Platonic,

Archimedean and Catalan solids and chiral polyhedra, the snub
cube, snub dodecahedron and their duals have been presented.

The Coxeter diagrams A3, B3 and H3 were used to represent

the symmetries of the polyhedra.

A number of programs were developed to generate

Coxeter group elements in terms of quaternions, quaternionic
vertices of polyhedra and to plot the polyhedra.

35
Bangalore conference, 16-22 December, 2012