se puede ver en la fuente aquí: https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/master/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/routing/polymorphic_routes.rb
Cuando redirect_to toma un modelo, se filtra a través de algunos métodos para obtener la ruta llamando al método polymorphic_url. El API para este método [1] en realidad tiene una gran cantidad de detalles, copiada de los comentarios aquí:
# Constructs a call to a named RESTful route for the given record and returns the
# resulting URL string. For example:
#
# # calls post_url(post)
# polymorphic_url(post) # => "http://example.com/posts/1"
# polymorphic_url([blog, post]) # => "http://example.com/blogs/1/posts/1"
# polymorphic_url([:admin, blog, post]) # => "http://example.com/admin/blogs/1/posts/1"
# polymorphic_url([user, :blog, post]) # => "http://example.com/users/1/blog/posts/1"
# polymorphic_url(Comment) # => "http://example.com/comments"
#
# ==== Options
#
# * <tt>:action</tt> - Specifies the action prefix for the named route:
# <tt>:new</tt> or <tt>:edit</tt>. Default is no prefix.
# * <tt>:routing_type</tt> - Allowed values are <tt>:path</tt> or <tt>:url</tt>.
# Default is <tt>:url</tt>.
#
# ==== Examples
#
# # an Article record
# polymorphic_url(record) # same as article_url(record)
#
# # a Comment record
# polymorphic_url(record) # same as comment_url(record)
#
# # it recognizes new records and maps to the collection
# record = Comment.new
# polymorphic_url(record) # same as comments_url()
#
# # the class of a record will also map to the collection
# polymorphic_url(Comment) # same as comments_url()
En esencia, la respuesta a su pregunta es que llama (equivalentemente) Método de la model_path (@Model) para el modelo.
[1] http://apidock.com/rails/ActionController/PolymorphicRoutes/polymorphic_url