The domino problem is decidable for robust tilesets

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Aubrun, Nathalie, Blanc, Manon, Bournez, Olivier
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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_version_ 1866929236120436736
author Aubrun, Nathalie
Blanc, Manon
Bournez, Olivier
author_facet Aubrun, Nathalie
Blanc, Manon
Bournez, Olivier
contents One of the most fundamental problems in tiling theory is the domino problem: given a set of tiles and tiling rules, decide if there exists a way to tile the plane using copies of tiles and following their rules. The problem is known to be undecidable in general and even for sets of Wang tiles, which are unit square tiles wearing colours on their edges which can be assembled provided they share the same colour on their common edge, as proven by Berger in the 1960s. In this paper, we focus on Wang tilesets. We prove that the domino problem is decidable for robust tilesets, i.e. tilesets that either cannot tile the plane or can but, if so, satisfy some particular invariant provably. We establish that several famous tilesets considered in the literature are robust. We give arguments that this is true for all tilesets unless they are produced from non-robust Turing machines: a Turing machine is said to be non-robust if it does not halt and furthermore does so non-provably. As a side effect of our work, we provide a sound and relatively complete method for proving that a tileset can tile the plane. Our analysis also provides explanations for the observed similarities between proofs in the literature for various tilesets, as well as of phenomena that have been observed experimentally in the systematic study of tilesets using computer methods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_04438
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The domino problem is decidable for robust tilesets
Aubrun, Nathalie
Blanc, Manon
Bournez, Olivier
Discrete Mathematics
Logic in Computer Science
Combinatorics
Dynamical Systems
Logic
One of the most fundamental problems in tiling theory is the domino problem: given a set of tiles and tiling rules, decide if there exists a way to tile the plane using copies of tiles and following their rules. The problem is known to be undecidable in general and even for sets of Wang tiles, which are unit square tiles wearing colours on their edges which can be assembled provided they share the same colour on their common edge, as proven by Berger in the 1960s. In this paper, we focus on Wang tilesets. We prove that the domino problem is decidable for robust tilesets, i.e. tilesets that either cannot tile the plane or can but, if so, satisfy some particular invariant provably. We establish that several famous tilesets considered in the literature are robust. We give arguments that this is true for all tilesets unless they are produced from non-robust Turing machines: a Turing machine is said to be non-robust if it does not halt and furthermore does so non-provably. As a side effect of our work, we provide a sound and relatively complete method for proving that a tileset can tile the plane. Our analysis also provides explanations for the observed similarities between proofs in the literature for various tilesets, as well as of phenomena that have been observed experimentally in the systematic study of tilesets using computer methods.
title The domino problem is decidable for robust tilesets
topic Discrete Mathematics
Logic in Computer Science
Combinatorics
Dynamical Systems
Logic
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.04438