Prototiles and Tilings from Voronoi and Delone cells of the Root Lattice A_n

We exploit the fact that two-dimensional facets of the Voronoi and Delone cells of the root lattice A_n in n-dimensional space are the identical rhombuses and equilateral triangles respectively.The prototiles obtained from orthogonal projections of the Voronoi and Delaunay (Delone) cells of the root lattice of the Coxeter-Weyl group W(a)_n are classified. Orthogonal projections lead to various rhombuses and several triangles respectively some of which have been extensively discussed in the literature in different contexts. For example, rhombuses of the Voronoi cell of the root lattice A_4 projects onto only two prototiles: thick and thin rhombuses of the Penrose tilings. Similarly the Delone cells tiling the same root lattice projects onto two isosceles Robinson triangles which also lead to Penrose tilings with kites and darts. We point out that the Coxeter element of order h=n+1 and the dihedral subgroup of order 2n plays a crucial role for h-fold symmetric aperiodic tilings of the Coxeter plane. After setting the general scheme we give examples leading to tilings with 4-fold, 5-fold, 6-fold,7-fold, 8-fold and 12-fold symmetries with rhombic and triangular tilings of the plane which are useful in modelling the quasicrystallography with 5-fold, 8-fold and 12-fold symmetries. The face centered cubic (f.c.c.) lattice described by the root lattice A_(3)whose Wigner-Seitz cell is the rhombic dodecahedron projects, as expected, onto a square lattice with an h=4 fold symmetry.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figure

Triangular dissections, aperiodic tilings and Jones algebras

The Brattelli diagram associated with a given bicolored Dynkin-Coxeter graph of type $A_n$ determines planar fractal sets obtained by infinite dissections of a given triangle. All triangles appearing in the dissection process have angles that are multiples of $\pi/ (n+1).$ There are usually several possible infinite dissections compatible with a given $n$ but a given one makes use of $n/2$ triangle types if $n$ is even. Jones algebra with index $[ 4 \ \cos^2{\pi \over n+1}]^{-1}$ (values of the discrete range) act naturally on vector spaces associated with those fractal sets. Triangles of a given type are always congruent at each step of the dissection process. In the particular case $n=4$, there are isometric and the whole structure lead, after proper inflation, to aperiodic Penrose tilings. The ``tilings'' associated with other values of the index are discussed and shown to be encoded by equivalence classes of infinite sequences (with appropriate constraints) using $n/2$ digits (if $n$ is even) and generalizing the Fibonacci numbers.Comment: 14 pages. Revised version. 18 Postcript figures, a 500 kb uuencoded file called images.uu available by mosaic or gopher from gopher://cpt.univ-mrs.fr/11/preprints/94/fundamental-interactions/94-P.302

Tiling Billards on Triangle Tilings, and Interval Exchange Transformations

We consider the dynamics of light rays in triangle tilings where triangles are transparent and adjacent triangles have equal but opposite indices of refraction. We find that the behavior of a trajectory on a triangle tiling is described by an orientation-reversing three-interval exchange transformation on the circle, and that the behavior of all the trajectories on a given triangle tiling is described by a polygon exchange transformation. We show that, for a particular choice of triangle tiling, certain trajectories approach the Rauzy fractal, under rescaling.Comment: 31 pages, 19 figures, 2 appendices. Comments welcome

Statistical mechanics of glass transition in lattice molecule models

Lattice molecule models are proposed in order to study statistical mechanics of glass transition in finite dimensions. Molecules in the models are represented by hard Wang tiles and their density is controlled by a chemical potential. An infinite series of irregular ground states are constructed theoretically. By defining a glass order parameter as a collection of the overlap with each ground state, a thermodynamic transition to a glass phase is found in a stratified Wang tiles model on a cubic lattice.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Forcing nonperiodicity with a single tile

An aperiodic prototile is a shape for which infinitely many copies can be arranged to fill Euclidean space completely with no overlaps, but not in a periodic pattern. Tiling theorists refer to such a prototile as an "einstein" (a German pun on "one stone"). The possible existence of an einstein has been pondered ever since Berger's discovery of large set of prototiles that in combination can tile the plane only in a nonperiodic way. In this article we review and clarify some features of a prototile we recently introduced that is an einstein according to a reasonable definition. [This abstract does not appear in the published article.]Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. This article has been substantially revised and accepted for publication in the Mathematical Intelligencer and is scheduled to appear in Vol 33. Citations to and quotations from this work should reference that publication. If you cite this work, please check that the published form contains precisely the material to which you intend to refe