English

A self-similar aperiodic set of 19 Wang tiles

Dynamical Systems 2019-07-11 v3

Abstract

We define a Wang tile set U\mathcal{U} of cardinality 19 and show that the set ΩU\Omega_\mathcal{U} of all valid Wang tilings Z2U\mathbb{Z}^2\to\mathcal{U} is self-similar, aperiodic and is a minimal subshift of UZ2\mathcal{U}^{\mathbb{Z}^2}. Thus U\mathcal{U} is the second smallest self-similar aperiodic Wang tile set known after Ammann's set of 16 Wang tiles. The proof is based on the unique composition property. We prove the existence of an expansive, primitive and recognizable 22-dimensional morphism ω:ΩUΩU\omega:\Omega_\mathcal{U}\to\Omega_\mathcal{U} that is onto up to a shift. The proof of recognizability is done in two steps using at each step the same criteria (the existence of marker tiles) for proving the existence of a recognizable one-dimensional substitution that sends each tile either on a single tile or on a domino of two tiles.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1802.03265,
  title  = {A self-similar aperiodic set of 19 Wang tiles},
  author = {Sébastien Labbé},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1802.03265},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

Version 1: 30 pages, 8 figures. Version 2: 27 pages, 9 figures, results are now based on the notion of marker tiles which simplifies greatly the presentation while reducing its size. Version 3: fixed a typo in Figure 9