Polyominoes and Polyiamonds as Fundamental Domains of Isohedral Tilings with Rotational Symmetry

We describe computer algorithms that produce the complete set of isohedral tilings by n-omino or n-iamond tiles in which the tiles are fundamental domains and the tilings have 3-, 4-, or 6-fold rotational symmetry. The symmetry groups of such tilings are of types p3, p31m, p4, p4g, and p6. There are no isohedral tilings with symmetry groups p3m1, p4m, or p6m that have polyominoes or polyiamonds as fundamental domains. We display the algorithms' output and give enumeration tables for small values of n. This expands on our earlier works (Fukuda et al 2006, 2008)

On the Number of p4-Tilings by an n-Omino

A plane tiling by the copies of a polyomino is called isohedral if every pair of copies in the tiling has a symmetry of the tiling that maps one copy to the other. We show that, for every $n$-omino (i.e., polyomino consisting of n cells), the number of non-equivalent isohedral tilings generated by 90 degree rotations, so called p4-tilings or quarter-turn tilings, is bounded by a constant (independent of n). The proof relies on the analysis of the factorization of the boundary word of a polyomino

A Quasilinear-Time Algorithm for Tiling the Plane Isohedrally with a Polyomino

A plane tiling consisting of congruent copies of a shape is isohedral provided that for any pair of copies, there exists a symmetry of the tiling mapping one copy to the other. We give a O(n log2 n)-time algorithm for deciding if a polyomino with n edges can tile the plane isohedrally. This improves on the O(n18)-time algorithm of Keating and Vince and generalizes recent work by Brlek, Provençal, Fédou, and the second author.SCOPUS: cp.pinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

An Optimal Algorithm for Tiling the Plane with a Translated Polyomino

We give a $O(n)$-time algorithm for determining whether translations of a polyomino with $n$ edges can tile the plane. The algorithm is also a $O(n)$-time algorithm for enumerating all such tilings that are also regular, and we prove that at most $\Theta(n)$ such tilings exist.Comment: In proceedings of ISAAC 201

Polyomino convolutions and tiling problems

We define a convolution operation on the set of polyominoes and use it to obtain a criterion for a given polyomino not to tile the plane (rotations and translations allowed). We apply the criterion to several families of polyominoes, and show that the criterion detects some cases that are not detectable by generalized coloring arguments.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. To appear in \emph{J. of Combin. Theory Ser. A

Snakes in the Plane

Recent developments in tiling theory, primarily in the study of anisohedral shapes, have been the product of exhaustive computer searches through various classes of polygons. I present a brief background of tiling theory and past work, with particular emphasis on isohedral numbers, aperiodicity, Heesch numbers, criteria to characterize isohedral tilings, and various details that have arisen in past computer searches. I then develop and implement a new ``boundary-based'' technique, characterizing shapes as a sequence of characters representing unit length steps taken from a finite language of directions, to replace the ``area-based'' approaches of past work, which treated the Euclidean plane as a regular lattice of cells manipulated like a bitmap. The new technique allows me to reproduce and verify past results on polyforms (edge-to-edge assemblies of unit squares, regular hexagons, or equilateral triangles) and then generalize to a new class of shapes dubbed polysnakes, which past approaches could not describe. My implementation enumerates polyforms using Redelmeier's recursive generation algorithm, and enumerates polysnakes using a novel approach. The shapes produced by the enumeration are subjected to tests to either determine their isohedral number or prove they are non-tiling. My results include the description of this novel approach to testing tiling properties, a correction to previous descriptions of the criteria for characterizing isohedral tilings, the verification of some previous results on polyforms, and the discovery of two new 4-anisohedral polysnakes

Non lattice periodic tilings of R3 by single polycubes

International audienceIn this paper, we study a class of polycubes that tile the space by translation in a non lattice periodic way. More precisely, we construct a family of tiles indexed by integers with the property that Tk is a tile having k ≥ 2 has anisohedral number. That is k copies of Tk are assembled by translation in order to form a metatile. We prove that this metatile is lattice periodic while Tk is not a lattice periodic tile