Related papers: Exploring the "Rubik's Magic" universe
The Rubik's cube is a famous puzzle in which faces can be moved and the corresponding movement operations define a group. We consider here a generalization to any $3$-valent map. We prove an upper bound on the size of the corresponding…
It is well known that Rubik's cube has a set of group invariants. These values do not change if any layer was rotated, but they can change in case if some of the cubes were removed from the puzzle, mixed up and returned back. In this paper,…
We construct the moduli space, $M_d$, of degree $d$ rational maps on $\mathbb{P}^1$ in terms of invariants of binary forms. We apply this construction to give explicit invariants and equations for $M_3$. Using classical invariant theory, we…
We provide new examples of integrable rational maps in four dimensions with two rational invariants, which have unexpected geometric properties, as for example orbits confined to non algebraic varieties, and fall outside classes studied by…
We introduce a family of reconfiguration puzzles arising from ideas in geometry and topology. We present their construction from square-tiled shapes, discuss some of the underlying mathematics and describe how they are naturally associated…
What is the shape of the Universe? Is it curved or flat, finite or infinite ? Is space "wrapped around" to create ghost images of faraway cosmic sources? We review how tessellations allow to build multiply-connected 3D Riemannian spaces…
The Rubix Cube is a 3-dimensional single-player combination puzzle attracting attention in the reinforcement learning community. A Rubix Cube has six faces and twelve possible actions, leading to a small and unconstrained action space and a…
We construct quasitoric manifolds of dimension 6 and higher which are not equivariantly homeomorphic to any toric origami manifold. All necessary topological definitions and combinatorial constructions are given and the statement is…
Cubic forms in three variables are parametrised by points of $\P^9$. We study the subvarieties in this space defined by decomposable forms. Specifically, we calculate the equivariant minimal resolutions of these varieties and describe their…
We consider a multidimensional universe with the topology $M= \R\times M_1\times \cdots \times M_n$, where the $M_i$ ($i>1$) are $d_i$-dimensional Ricci flat spaces. Exploiting a conformal equivalence between minimal coupling models and…
Rubik's Revenge, a 4x4x4 variant of the Rubik's puzzles, remains to date as an unsolved puzzle. That is to say, we do not have a method or successful categorization to optimally solve every one of its approximately $7.401 \times 10^{45}$…
``One could imagine that as a result of enormously extended astronomical experience, the entire universe consists of countless identical copies of our Milky Way, that the infinite space can be partitioned into cubes each containing an…
We construct invariants under deformation of real symplectic 4-manifolds. These invariants are obtained by counting three different kinds of real rational J-holomorphic curves which realize a given homology class and pass through a given…
The space-like hypersurface of the Universe at the present cosmological time is a three-dimensional manifold. A non-trivial global topology of this space-like hypersurface would imply that the apparently observable universe (the sphere of…
Suppose we have identified three clusters of galaxies as being topological copies of the same object. How does this information constrain the possible models for the shape of our Universe? It is shown here that, if the Universe has flat…
Recent observations seem to indicate that we live in a universe whose spatial sections are nearly or exactly flat. Motivated by this we study the problem of observational detection of the topology of universes with flat spatial sections. We…
In this note we use techniques in the topology of 2-complexes to recast some tools that have arisen in the study of planar tiling questions. With spherical pictures we show that the tile counting group associated to a set $T$ of tiles and a…
The Rubik's Cube is perhaps the world's most famous and iconic puzzle, well-known to have a rich underlying mathematical structure (group theory). In this paper, we show that the Rubik's Cube also has a rich underlying algorithmic…
We consider generalizations of the familiar fifteen-piece sliding puzzle on the 4 by 4 square grid. On larger grids with more pieces and more holes, asymptotically how fast can we move the puzzle into the solved state? We also give a…
We construct a simple topological invariant of certain 3-manifolds, including quotients of the 3-sphere by finite groups, based on the fact that the tangent bundle of an orientable 3-manifold is trivialisable. This invariant is strong…