On translating one polyomino to tile the plane

Given a polyomino, we prove that we can decide whether translated copies of the polyomino can tile the plane. Copies that are rotated, for example, are not allowed in the tilings we consider. If such a tiling exists the polyomino is called anexact polyomino. Further, every such tiling of the plane by translated copies of the polyomino is half-periodic. Moreover, all the possible surroundings of an exact polyomino are described in a simple way.     

Minimum boundary touching tilings of polyominoes

We study the problem of tiling a polyomino P with as few squares as possible such that every square in the tiling has a non‐empty intersection with the boundary of P . Our main result is an algorithm which given a simply connected polyomino P computes such a tiling of P . We indicate how one can improve the running time of this algorithm for the more restricted row‐column‐convex polyominoes. Finally we show that a related decision problem is in NP for rectangular polyominoes. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Helly Numbers of Polyominoes

We define the Helly number of a polyomino P as the smallest number h such that the h-Helly property holds for the family of symmetric and translated copies of P on the integer grid. We prove the following: (i) the only polyominoes with Helly number 2 are the rectangles, (ii) there does not exist any polyomino with Helly number 3, (iii) there exist polyominoes of Helly number k for any k ≠ 1, 3.     

Irregular polyomino tiling via integer programming with application in phased array antenna design

A polyomino is a generalization of the domino and is created by connecting a fixed number of unit squares along edges. Tiling a region with a given set of polyominoes is a hard combinatorial optimization problem. This paper is motivated by a recent application of irregular polyomino tilings in the design of phased array antennas. Specifically, we formulate the irregular polyomino tiling problem as a nonlinear exact set covering model, where irregularity is incorporated into the objective function using the information-theoretic entropy concept. An exact solution method based on a branch-and-price framework along with novel branching and lower-bounding schemes is proposed. The developed method is shown to be effective for small- and medium-size instances of the problem. For large-size instances, efficient heuristics and approximation algorithms are provided. Encouraging computational results including phased array antenna simulations are reported.     

Space tilings and local isomorphism

We prove for a large class of tilings that, given a finite tile set, if it is possible to tile Euclideann-space with isometric copies of this set, then there is a tiling with the ‘local isomorphism property’. Research supported in part by NSF Grant No. DMS-9001475.     

Packing polyominoes clumsily

For a set D of polyominoes, a packing of the plane with D is a maximal set of copies of polyominoes from D that are not overlapping. A packing with smallest density is called a clumsy packing. We give an example of a set D such that any clumsy packing is aperiodic. In addition, we compute the smallest possible density of a clumsy packing when D consists of a single polyomino of a given size and show that one can always construct a periodic packing arbitrarily close in density to the clumsy packing.     

Many L-Shaped Polyominoes Have Odd Rectangular Packings

A polyomino is called odd if it can tile a rectangle using an odd number of copies. We give a very general family of odd polyominoes. Specifically, consider an L-shaped polyomino, i.e., a rectangle that has a rectangular piece removed from one corner. For some of these polyominoes, two copies tile a rectangle, called a basic rectangle. We prove that such a polyomino is odd if its basic rectangle has relatively prime side lengths. This general family encompasses several previously known families of odd polyominoes, as well as many individual examples. We prove a stronger result for a narrower family of polyominoes. Let L _n denote the polyomino formed by removing a 1 ×  (n?2) corner from a 2 ×  (n?1) rectangle. We show that when n is odd, L _n tiles all rectangles both of whose sides are at least 8n ³, and whose area is a multiple of n. If we only allow L _n to be rotated, but not reflected, then the same is true, provided that both sides of the rectangle are at least 16n ⁴. We also give several isolated examples of odd polyominoes.     

Detecting Combinatorial Hierarchy in Tilings Using Derived Voronoi Tessellations

Abstract. Tilings of R ² can display hierarchy similar to that seen in the limit sequences of substitutions. Self-similarity for tilings has been used as the standard generalization, but this viewpoint is limited because such tilings are analogous to limit points of constant-length substitutions. To generalize limit points of non-constant-length substitutions, we define hierarchy for infinite, labelled graphs, then extend this definition to tilings via their dual graphs. Examples of combinatorially substitutive tilings that are not self-similar are given. We then find a sufficient condition for detecting combinatorial hierarchy that is motivated by the characterization by Durand of substitutive sequences. That characterization relies upon the construction of the ``derived sequence'—a recoding in terms of reappearances of an initial block. Following this, we define the ``derived Vorono? tiling'—a retiling in terms of reappearances of an initial patch of tiles. Using derived Vorono? tilings, we obtain a sufficient condition for a tiling to be combinatorially substitutive.     

Crystallographic reptiles

We consider tilings ofR ⁿ by copies of a compact setA under the action of a crystallographic group, such that the union ofk suitably chosen tiles is affinely isomorphic toA. For dimensionn=2 we show that for eachk2 there is a finite number of isomorphy classes of such setsA which are homeomorphic to a disk. We give an algorithm which determines all disk-like tiles for a given group and numberk. The algorithm will be applied to the groupsp2 andp3 withk=3.     

Detecting Combinatorial Hierarchy in Tilings Using Derived Voronoi Tessellations

   Abstract. Tilings of R ² can display hierarchy similar to that seen in the limit sequences of substitutions. Self-similarity for tilings has been used as the standard generalization, but this viewpoint is limited because such tilings are analogous to limit points of constant-length substitutions. To generalize limit points of non-constant-length substitutions, we define hierarchy for infinite, labelled graphs, then extend this definition to tilings via their dual graphs. Examples of combinatorially substitutive tilings that are not self-similar are given. We then find a sufficient condition for detecting combinatorial hierarchy that is motivated by the characterization by Durand of substitutive sequences. That characterization relies upon the construction of the ``derived sequence'—a recoding in terms of reappearances of an initial block. Following this, we define the ``derived Vorono? tiling'—a retiling in terms of reappearances of an initial patch of tiles. Using derived Vorono? tilings, we obtain a sufficient condition for a tiling to be combinatorially substitutive.     

Fractal tiles associated with shift radix systems

Shift radix systems form a collection of dynamical systems depending on a parameter r which varies in the d-dimensional real vector space. They generalize well-known numeration systems such as beta-expansions, expansions with respect to rational bases, and canonical number systems. Beta-numeration and canonical number systems are known to be intimately related to fractal shapes, such as the classical Rauzy fractal and the twin dragon. These fractals turned out to be important for studying properties of expansions in several settings.In the present paper we associate a collection of fractal tiles with shift radix systems. We show that for certain classes of parameters r these tiles coincide with affine copies of the well-known tiles associated with beta-expansions and canonical number systems. On the other hand, these tiles provide natural families of tiles for beta-expansions with (non-unit) Pisot numbers as well as canonical number systems with (non-monic) expanding polynomials.We also prove basic properties for tiles associated with shift radix systems. Indeed, we prove that under some algebraic conditions on the parameter r of the shift radix system, these tiles provide multiple tilings and even tilings of the d-dimensional real vector space. These tilings turn out to have a more complicated structure than the tilings arising from the known number systems mentioned above. Such a tiling may consist of tiles having infinitely many different shapes. Moreover, the tiles need not be self-affine (or graph directed self-affine).     

Combinatorial Proofs of Various q-Pell Identities via Tilings

Recently, Benjamin, Plott, and Sellers proved a variety of identities involving sums of Pell numbers combinatorially by interpreting both sides of a given identity as enumerators of certain sets of tilings using white squares, black squares, and gray dominoes. In this article, we state and prove q-analogues of several Pell identities via weighted tilings.     

The perimeter of uniform and geometric words: a probabilistic analysis

Abstract

Let a word be a sequence of n i.i.d. integer random variables. The perimeter P of the word is the number of edges of the word, seen as a polyomino. In this paper, we present a probabilistic approach to the computation of the moments of P. This is applied to uniform and geometric random variables. We also show that, asymptotically, the distribution of P is Gaussian and, seen as a stochastic process, the perimeter converges in distribution to a Brownian motion.     

Tilings of Decomposable Groups

We study a problem formulated by A. M. Vershik and related to several questions in orbit theory of tilings of finitely generated groups. Let G be decomposed into a free product of two nontrivial groups. Then for any finite subset S of the group G there exists a finite subset P of the group G, PS, such that G is covered by disjoint left translations of the set P. Bibliography: 2 titles.     

Combinatorial properties of polyominoes

A finite set of cells in the infinite planar square grid is often called a polyomino. With each polyominoP, we may associate a hypergraph whose vertices are the cells ofP and whose edges are the maximal rectangles (in the standard position) contained inP. It turns out that these hypergraphs have many nice properties generalizing various properties of bipartite graphs and trees. We survey results in this direction.     

Packing of Incongruent Circles on the Sphere

 In this paper we provide an upper bound to the density of a packing of circles on the sphere, with radii selected from a given finite set. This bound is precise, e.g. for the system of incircles of Archimedean tilings (4, 4, n) with n ? 6. A generalisation to the weighted density of packing is applied to problems of solidity of a packing of circles. The simple concept of solidity was introduced by L. Fejes Toóth [6]. In particular, it is proved that the incircles of the faces of the Archimedean tilings (4,6,6), (4,6,8) and (4, 6, 10) form solid packings.     

Domino Tiling Congruence Modulo 4

The number of domino tilings of a region with reflective symmetry across a line is combinatorially shown to depend on the number of domino tilings of particular subregions, modulo 4. This expands upon previous congruency results for domino tilings, modulo 2, and leads to a variety of corollaries, including that the number of domino tilings of a k × 2k rectangle is congruent to 1 mod 4.     

Packing and covering the plane with translates of a convex polygon

A covering of the Euclidean plane by a polygon P is a system of translated copies of P whose union is the plane, and a packing of P in the plane is a system of translated copies of P whose interiors are disjoint. A lattice covering is a covering in which the translates are defined by the points of a lattice, and a lattice packing is defined similarly. We show that, given a convex polygon P with n vertices, the densest lattice packing of P in the plane can be found in O(n) time. We also show that the sparsest lattice covering of the plane by a centrally symmetric convex polygon can be solved in O(n) time. Our approach utilizes results from classical geometry that reduce these packing and covering problems to the problems of finding certain extremal enclosed figures within the polygon.     

Alternating-Sign Matrices and Domino Tilings (Part I)

We introduce a family of planar regions, called Aztec diamonds, and study tilings of these regions by dominoes. Our main result is that the Aztec diamond of order n has exactly 2 ^n(n+1)/2 domino tilings. In this, the first half of a two-part paper, we give two proofs of this formula. The first proof exploits a connection between domino tilings and the alternating-sign matrices of Mills, Robbins, and Rumsey. In particular, a domino tiling of an Aztec diamond corresponds to a compatible pair of alternating-sign matrices. The second proof of our formula uses monotone triangles, which constitute another form taken by alternating-sign matrices; by assigning each monotone triangle a suitable weight, we can count domino tilings of an Aztec diamond.