Topology Of Tiling Spaces

"This book is an introduction to the topology of tiling spaces, with a target audience of graduate students who wish to learn about the interface of topology with aperiodic order. It isn't a comprehensive and cross-referenced tome about everything having to do with tilings, which would be too big, too hard to read, and far too hard to write! Rather, it is a review of the explosion of recent work on tiling spaces as inverse limits, on the cohomology of tiling spaces, on substitution tilings and the role of rotations, and on tilings that do not have finite local complexity. Powerful computational techniques have been developed, as have new ways of thinking about tiling spaces." "The text contains a generous supply of examples and exercises."--BOOK JACKET.

Tiling theory provides a wonderful opportunity to illustrate both the beauty and utility of mathematics. It has all the relevant ingredients: there are stunning pictures; open problems can be stated without having to spend months providing the necessary background; and there are both deep mathematics and applications. Furthermore, tiling theory happens to be an area where many of the sub-fields of mathematics overlap. Tools can be applied from linear algebra, algebra, analysis, geometry, topology, and combinatorics. As such, it makes for an ideal capstone course for undergraduates or an introductory course for graduate students. This material can also be used for a lower-level course by skipping the more technical sections. In addition, readers from a variety of disciplines can read the book on their own to find out more about this intriguing subject. This book covers the necessary background on tilings and then delves into a variety of fascinating topics in the field, including symmetry groups, random tilings, aperiodic tilings, and quasicrystals. Although primarily focused on tilings of the Euclidean plane, the book also covers tilings of the sphere, hyperbolic plane, and Euclidean 3-space, including knotted tilings. Throughout, the book includes open problems and possible projects for students. Readers will come away with the background necessary to pursue further work in the subject.

We explore the asymptotic arc components made by the continuous R2-action of translation on two-dimensional nonperiodic substitution tiling spaces. As there is a strong connection between the topology of a tiling space and the tiling dynamics that it supports, the results in this dissertation represent a qualitative approach to the study of tiling dynamics. Our results are the establishment of techniques to isolate and visualize the asymptotic behavior. In a recent paper, Barge, et al, showed the cohomology formed from the asymptotic structure in one-dimensional Pisot substitution tiling spaces is a topological invariant, [BDS]. However, in one dimension there exist only a finite number of asymptotic pairs, whereas there are infinitely many asymptotic leaves in two dimensions. By considering periodic tilings that are asymptotic in more than a half plane we are able to use the stable manifold under inflation and substitution to show there are a finite number of 'directions' of branching. This yields a description of the asymptotic structure in terms of an inverse limit of a branched set in the approximating collared Anderson-Putnam complex. Using rigidity results from [JK], we show the cohomology formed from the asymptotic structure is a topological invariant.

A concise investigation into the connections between tiling space problems and algebraic ideas, suitable for undergraduates.

"Miles of Tiles" is a mathematics lesson for middle school classes requiring students to calculate the number and cost of tiles needed to cover the floor of the classroom. This lesson includes Internet activities. "Miles of Tiles" is presented as a service of the Link-to-Learn Professional Development Project of Pennsylvania, a state-sponsored educational technology initiative.

"From nothing I have created a new different world," wrote János Bolyai to his father, Wolgang Bolyai, on November 3, 1823, to let him know his discovery of non-Euclidean geometry, as we call it today. The results of Bolyai and the co-discoverer, the Russian Lobachevskii, changed the course of mathematics, opened the way for modern physical theories of the twentieth century, and had an impact on the history of human culture. The papers in this volume, which commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth of János Bolyai, were written by leading scientists of non-Euclidean geometry, its history, and its applications. Some of the papers present new discoveries about the life and works of János Bolyai and the history of non-Euclidean geometry, others deal with geometrical axiomatics; polyhedra; fractals; hyperbolic, Riemannian and discrete geometry; tilings; visualization; and applications in physics.

This volume contains the proceedings of the conference, Symbolic Dynamics and its Applications, held at Yale University in the summer of 1991 in honour of Roy L. Adler on his sixtieth birthday. The conference focused on symbolic dynamics and its applications to other fields, including: ergodic theory, smooth dynamical systems, information theory, automata theory, and statistical mechanics. Featuring a range of contributions from some of the leaders in the field, this volume presents an excellent overview of the subject.

What is order that is not based on simple repetition, that is, periodicity? How must atoms be arranged in a material so that it diffracts like a quasicrystal? How can we describe aperiodically ordered systems mathematically? Originally triggered by the – later Nobel prize-winning – discovery of quasicrystals, the investigation of aperiodic order has since become a well-established and rapidly evolving field of mathematical research with close ties to a surprising variety of branches of mathematics and physics. This book offers an overview of the state of the art in the field of aperiodic order, presented in carefully selected authoritative surveys. It is intended for non-experts with a general background in mathematics, theoretical physics or computer science, and offers a highly accessible source of first-hand information for all those interested in this rich and exciting field. Topics covered include the mathematical theory of diffraction, the dynamical systems of tilings or Delone sets, their cohomology and non-commutative geometry, the Pisot substitution conjecture, aperiodic Schrödinger operators, and connections to arithmetic number theory.