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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Foster, Leigh
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.21700
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author Foster, Leigh
author_facet Foster, Leigh
contents The question of whether a given region can be successfully filled by a finite set of tiles has been commonly studied, and there are many available arguments for whether a given finite region can be tiled. We can show that there is no domino tiling of the mutilated chessboard via a coloring argument, and a slightly more subtle argument for other two-colored square-grid regions using a height function of Thurston. In this paper, we examine finite regions of the hexagonal grid and a set of tiles known as the stone, bone, and snake. Using matrices in $\text{SL}_2(\mathbb{C})$, we exhibit a new necessary criterion for a region to have a signed tiling by these tiles. This originally arose in a study of the double dimer model.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_21700
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Stones, Bones, and Snakes: Tilability of the hexagonal grid via the double dimer model
Foster, Leigh
Combinatorics
05B45
The question of whether a given region can be successfully filled by a finite set of tiles has been commonly studied, and there are many available arguments for whether a given finite region can be tiled. We can show that there is no domino tiling of the mutilated chessboard via a coloring argument, and a slightly more subtle argument for other two-colored square-grid regions using a height function of Thurston. In this paper, we examine finite regions of the hexagonal grid and a set of tiles known as the stone, bone, and snake. Using matrices in $\text{SL}_2(\mathbb{C})$, we exhibit a new necessary criterion for a region to have a signed tiling by these tiles. This originally arose in a study of the double dimer model.
title Stones, Bones, and Snakes: Tilability of the hexagonal grid via the double dimer model
topic Combinatorics
05B45
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.21700