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The intrinsic, hyperbolic crystallography of the Diamond and Gyroid minimal surfaces in their conventional unit cells is introduced and analysed. Tables are constructed of symmetry subgroups commensurate with the translational symmetries of the surfaces as well as group–subgroup lattice graphs.

The absolute permeability of porous media is an important parameter for various technological applications ranging from ground water hydrology to hydrocarbon recovery to microfluidics. We investigate the max-flow min-cut theorem which states that the maximum flow through any network is exactly the sum of the edge weights that define the minimum cut. We hypothesize that the min-cut can be related to the absolute permeability of a network. We find correspondence between the absolute permeability measured from pore network modeling (${K}_{p\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}m}$) to that measured from the min-cut (${K}_{e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}d\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}m}$) and provide a means to identify structural regions that result in significant energy dissipation.

Using methods from the field of topological data analysis, we investigate the self-assembly and emergence of three-dimensional quasi-crystalline structures in a single-component colloidal system. Combining molecular dynamics and persistent homology, we analyse the time evolution of persistence diagrams and particular local structural motifs. Our analysis reveals the formation and dissipation of specific particle constellations in these trajectories, and shows that the persistence diagrams are sensitive to nucleation and convergence to a final structure. Identification of local motifs allows quantification of the similarities between the final structures in a topological sense. This analysis reveals a continuous variation with density between crystalline clathrate, quasi-crystalline, and disordered phases quantified by ‘topological proximity’, a visualization of the Wasserstein distances between persistence diagrams. From a topological perspective, there is a subtle, but direct connection between quasi-crystalline, crystalline and disordered states. Our results demonstrate that topological data analysis provides detailed insights into molecular self-assembly.

We gratefully acknowledge funding from the member companies of the ANU/UNSW Digicore Research Consortium, as well as the Australian Research Council. Adrian Sheppard is supported by Discovery Project DP160104995, Vanessa Robins is supported by ARC Future Fellowship FT140100604, and Anna Herring is supported by ARC Discovery Early Career Fellowship DE180100082.

Suppose an orientation-preserving action of a finite group G on the closed surface \(\Sigma _g\) of genus \(g>1\) extends over the 3-torus \(T^3\) for some embedding \(\Sigma _g\subset T^3\). Then \(|G|\le 12(g-1)\), and this upper bound \(12(g-1)\) can be achieved for \(g=n^2+1, 3n^2+1, 2n^3+1, 4n^3+1, 8n^3+1, n\in {\mathbb {Z}}_+\). The surfaces in \(T^3\) realizing a maximal symmetry can be either unknotted or knotted. Similar problems in the non-orientable category are also discussed. The connection with minimal surfaces in \(T^3\) is addressed and the situation when the maximally symmetric surfaces above can be realized by minimal surfaces is identified.

The mechanical properties of closed-cell aluminium foams are governed by their geometrical and topological evolution during impact. Here we non-destructively investigate the deformation mechanisms of a closed-cell aluminium foam sample at the cell scale. The sample has been compressed with 21 interrupted drop-weight impacts at a nominal strain rate of 40 s−1 and the post-impacted sample has been imaged at four pertinent strain states with high-resolution X-ray micro-computed tomography (XCT). Moreover, a number of qualitative and quantitative structural analyses are carried out using advanced 3D image analyses to understand the effect of foam geometry/topology on its mechanical response. Our results show that the deforming microstructure creates strong correlations across a range of geometrical, topological and shape characteristics. Quantitative image analyses of the sample at four different strain states reveal that the regions with large void fractions predominantly undergo collapse and subsequently reduces the structural heterogeneity. Further, we show that the deformation mechanism leaves topological signatures in the evolving microstructure, which can be used to better understand the mechanical response of the sample at various stages of impact-deformation. We demonstrate here, for the first time, how the topological quantities can be used to explore the foam deformation mechanisms and to correlate the deformation with mechanical response during impact.

This work was funded in part by ARCgrant DP110102888 (to A.P.S. and V.R.),and ARC Future FellowshipsFT100100470 (A.P.S.) and FT140100604(V.R.). Financial support was alsoprovided by the member companiesof the ANU/UNSW DigicoreConsortium, who have alsocontributed samples for this study.

We show how discrete Morse theory provides a rigorous and unifying foundation for defining skeletons and partitions of grayscale digital images. We model a grayscale image as a cubical complex with a real-valued function defined on its vertices (the voxel values). This function is extended to a discrete gradient vector field using the algorithm presented in Robins, Wood, Sheppard TPAMI 33:1646 (2011). In the current paper we define basins (the building blocks of a partition) and segments of the skeleton using the stable and unstable sets associated with critical cells. The natural connection between Morse theory and homology allows us to prove the topological validity of these constructions; for example, that the skeleton is homotopic to the initial object. We simplify the basins and skeletons via Morse-theoretic cancellation of critical cells in the discrete gradient vector field using a strategy informed by persistent homology. Simple working Python code for our algorithms for efficient vector field traversal is included. Example data are taken from micro-CT images of porous materials, an application area where accurate topological models of pore connectivity are vital for fluid-flow modelling.

The mechanism of crystallisation in highly dissipative materials such as foams or granular materials is still widely unknown. In macroscopic granular materials high levels of energy need to be injected to overcome the natural propensity of these dissipative materials to form amorphous structures [1, 2]. The transition from disordered to ordered packings in such systems triggers a wide range of geometrical, topological and mechanical changes at multi length scales [3]. Formation of cavities and patterns by aggregates of grains and their evolution during this transition requires a complete topological description of the system. Here, crystallisation of three-dimensional packings of frictional spheres is studied at the grain scale with x-ray tomography. Using a novel and powerful topological tool, Persistent Homology, we describe the complete formation process of perfect tetrahedral and octahedral patterns: the two building blocks of FCC and HCP crystalline arrangements. Additionally we present possible and allowable deformations of these components that accurately reproduce the main topological features of the system. These results give new insights into the crystallisation of these highly dissipative materials.

Here we present an experimental and numerical investigation on the grain-scale geometrical and mechanical properties of partially crystallized structures made of macroscopic frictional grains. Crystallization is inevitable in arrangements of monosized hard spheres with packing densities exceeding Bernal's limiting density ϕ(Bernal)≈0.64. We study packings of monosized hard spheres whose density spans over a wide range (0.59

Three-dimensional entanglements, including knots, knotted graphs, periodic arrays of woven filaments and interpenetrating nets, form an integral part of structure analysis because they influence various physical properties. Ideal embeddings of these entanglements give insight into identification and classification of the geometry and physically relevant configurations in vivo . This paper introduces an algorithm for the tightening of finite, periodic and branched entanglements to a least energy form. Our algorithm draws inspiration from the Shrink-On-No-Overlaps (SONO) (Pieranski 1998 In Ideal knots (eds A Stasiak, V Katritch, LH Kauffman), vol. 19, pp. 20–41.) algorithm for the tightening of knots and links: we call it Periodic-Branched Shrink-On-No-Overlaps (PB-SONO). We reproduce published results for ideal configurations of knots using PB-SONO. We then examine ideal geometry for finite entangled graphs, including θ -graphs and entangled tetrahedron- and cube-graphs. Finally, we compute ideal conformations of periodic weavings and entangled nets. The resulting ideal geometry is intriguing: we see spontaneous symmetrisation in some cases, breaking of symmetry in others, as well as configurations reminiscent of biological and chemical structures in nature.

International audience; We present a technique for the enumeration of all isotopically distinct ways of tiling, with disks, a hyperbolic surface of finite genus, possibly nonorientable and with punctures and boundary. This provides a generalization of the enumeration of Delaney-Dress combinatorial tiling theory on the basis of isotopic tiling theory. To accomplish this, we derive representations of the mapping class group of the orbifold associated to the symmetry group of the tiling under consideration as a set of algebraic operations on certain generators of the symmetry group. We derive explicit descriptions of certain subgroups of mapping class groups and of tilings as embedded graphs on orbifolds. We further use this explicit description to present an algorithm that we illustrate by producing an array of examples of isotopically distinct tilings of the hyperbolic plane with symmetries generated by rotations that are commensurate with the prominent Primitive, Diamond and Gyroid triply-periodic minimal surfaces, outlining how the approach yields an unambiguous enumeration. We also present the corresponding 3-periodic graphs on these surfaces.