Tilings: Mathematical Models for Quasicrystals

This chapter discusses tilings as mathematical models for quasicrystals. In a first approximation quasicrystals may be described as being space filling with copies of two or more types of tiles. This description gives a connection with the mathematical notion of tilings, which have been well studied. A brief introduction of tilings is presented in this chapter along with the method of substitution to create aperiodic tilings. The symmetry of the tilings is also treated in this chapter, as are model sets and random tilings. Quasiperiodic crystals often have approximants, that is, periodic structures that are close to the aperiodic ones. The relations between quasiperiodic crystals and approximants also is described in this chapter.