The Modified Bellows Conjecture for flexible spherical polyhedra

Let P(u)P(u) be a flexible polyhedron in the sphere Sn\mathbb{S}^n, where n3n\ge 3. Replacing a vertex by its antipode means replacing that vertex of P(u)P(u) with its antipodal point in Sn\mathbb{S}^n. Modified Bellows Conjecture. Some vertices can be replaced by their antipodes so that the oriented volume of the resulting flexible polyhedron P(u)P'(u) remains constant during the flexion. This conjecture is a spherical analogue of the Bellows Conjecture, which asserts constancy of oriented volume during flexion. It is refuted by exotic flexible cross-polytopes in Sn\mathbb{S}^n for all n4n\ge 4, while the source notes that it holds for the previously constructed counterexamples to the usual Bellows Conjecture.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Alexander A. Gaifullin, “Exotic spherical flexible octahedra and counterexamples to the Modified Bellows Conjecture”, arXiv:2503.09582 (2026).

Additional references

2 papers in this index state this conjecture (2015–2025). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:1501.06198.

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