An aperiodic hexagonal tile
Abstract
We show that a single prototile can fill space uniformly but not admit a periodic tiling. A two-dimensional, hexagonal prototile with markings that enforce local matching rules is proven to be aperiodic by two independent methods. The space--filling tiling that can be built from copies of the prototile has the structure of a union of honeycombs with lattice constants of $2^n a$, where $a$ sets the scale of the most dense lattice and $n$ takes all positive integer values. There are two local isomorphism classes consistent with the matching rules and there is a nontrivial relation between these tilings and a previous construction by Penrose. Alternative forms of the prototile enforce the local matching rules by shape alone, one using a prototile that is not a connected region and the other using a three--dimensional prototile.
- Publication:
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arXiv e-prints
- Pub Date:
- March 2010
- DOI:
- 10.48550/arXiv.1003.4279
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1003.4279
- Bibcode:
- 2010arXiv1003.4279S
- Keywords:
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- Mathematics - Combinatorics;
- Condensed Matter - Other Condensed Matter
- E-Print:
- 32 pages, 24 figures