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Tiling models can reveal unexpected ways in which local constraints give rise to exotic long-range spatial structure. The recently discovered Hat monotile (and its mirror image) has been shown to be aperiodic~[Smith et al., arXiv:2303.10798 (2023)]; it can tile the plane with no holes or overlaps, but cannot do so periodically. We show that the structure enforced by the local space-filling constraints is quasiperiodic with hexagonal (C6) rotational symmetry. Although this symmetry is compatible with periodicity, the incommensurate ratio characterizing the quasiperiodicity stays locked to the golden mean as the tile parameters are continuously varied. We analyze a modification of the metatiles introduced by Smith et al. that yields a set of ``Key tiles'' that can be constructed as projections of a subset of six-dimensional hypercubic lattice points onto the two-dimensional tiling plane. We analytically compute the diffraction pattern of a set of unit masses placed at the tiling vertices, establishing the quasiperiodic nature of the tiling. We point out several unusual features of the family of Key tilings and associated Hat tilings, including the tile rearrangements associated with the phason degree of freedom associated with incommensurate density waves, which exhibit novel features that may influence the elastic properties of a material in which atoms or larger particles spontaneously exhibit the symmetries of the Hat tiling., Comment: Modifications to text and figures to improve clarity, precision of presentation, and notation

In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. X 12, 031021], we reported experimental observations of ``ultrastable'' states in a shear-jammed granular system subjected to small-amplitude cyclic shear. In such states, all the particle positions and contact forces are reproduced after each shear cycle so that a strobed image of the stresses and particle positions appears static. In the present work, we report further analyses of data from those experiments to characterize both global and local responses of ultrastable states within a shear cycle, not just the strobed dynamics. We find that ultrastable states follow a power-law relation between shear modulus and pressure with an exponent $\beta\approx 0.5$, reminiscent of critical scaling laws near jamming. We also examine the evolution of contact forces measured using photoelasticimetry. We find that there are two types of contacts: non-persistent contacts that reversibly open and close; and persistent contacts that never open \yiqiu{and display no measurable sliding}. We show that the non-persistent contacts make a non-negligible contribution to the emergent shear modulus. We also analyze the spatial correlations of the stress tensor and compare them to the predictions of a recent theory of the emergent elasticity of granular solids, the Vector Charge Theory of Granular mechanics and dynamics (VCTG) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 118002, arXiv:2204.11811]. We show that our experimental results can be fit well by VCTG, assuming uniaxial symmetry of the contact networks. The fits reveal that the response of the ultrastable states to additional applied stress is substantially more isotropic than that of the original shear-jammed states. Our results provide important insight into the mechanical properties of frictional granular solids created by shear.

We investigate dynamical properties of a quantum generalization of classical reversible Boolean networks. The state of each node is encoded as a single qubit, and classical Boolean logic operations are supplemented by controlled bit-flip and Hadamard operations. We consider synchronous updating schemes in which each qubit is updated at each step based on stored values of the qubits from the previous step. We investigate the periodic or quasiperiodic behavior of quantum networks, and we analyze the propagation of single site perturbations through the quantum networks with input degree one. A non-classical mechanism for perturbation propagation leads to substantially different evolution of the Hamming distance between the original and perturbed states., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures; revised for Physical Review E

The mechanical strength and flow of granular materials can depend strongly on the shapes of individual grains. We report quantitative results obtained from photoelasticimetry experiments on locally loaded, quasi-two-dimensional granular packings of either disks or pentagons exhibiting stick-slip dynamics. Packings of pentagons resist the intruder at significantly lower packing fractions than packings of disks, transmitting stresses from the intruder to the boundaries over a smaller spatial extent. Moreover, packings of pentagons feature significantly fewer back-bending force chains than packings of disks. Data obtained on the forward spatial extent of stresses and back-bending force chains collapse when the packing fraction is rescaled according to the packing fraction of steady state open channel formation, though data on intruder forces and dynamics do not collapse. We comment on the influence of system size on these findings and highlight connections with the dynamics of the disks and pentagons during slip events., Comment: Updated after referee comments - new subsection 3.3 added along with a new figure; introduction reorganized; a few more details specified in the Methods section

Dry granular materials such as sand, gravel, pills, or agricultural grains, can become rigid when compressed or sheared. At low density, one can distort the shape of a container of granular material without encountering any resistance. Under isotropic compression, the material will reach a certain {\it jamming} density and then resist further compression. {\em Shear jamming} occurs when resistance to shear emerges in a system at a density lower than the jamming density, and the elastic properties of such states have important implications for industrial and geophysical processes. We report on experimental observations of changes in the mechanical properties of a shear-jammed granular material subjected to small-amplitude, quasi-static cyclic shear. We study a layer of plastic discs confined to a shear cell, using photoelasticimetry to measure all inter-particle vector forces. For sufficiently small cyclic shear amplitudes and large enough initial shear, the material evolves to an unexpected "ultra-stable" state in which all the particle positions and inter-particle contact forces remain unchanged after each complete shear cycle for thousands of cycles. The stress response of these states to small imposed shear is nearly elastic, in contrast to the original shear jammed state., Comment: In this third version, we did some minor revisions to better highlight the most important findings in this paper

The interactions between particles in particulate systems are organized in `force networks', mesoscale features that bridge between the particle scale and the scale of the system as a whole. While such networks are known to be crucial in determining the system wide response, extracting their properties, particularly from experimental systems, is difficult due to the need to measure the interparticle forces. In this work, we show by analysis of the data extracted from simulations that such detailed information about interparticle forces may not be necessary, as long as the focus is on extracting the most dominant features of these networks. The main finding is that a reasonable understanding of the time evolution of force networks can be obtained from incomplete information such as total force on the particles. To compare the evolution of the networks based on the completely known particle interactions and the networks based on incomplete information (total force each grain) we use tools of algebraic topology. In particular we will compare simple measures defined on persistence diagrams that provide useful summaries of the force network features.

Granular packings of non-convex or elongated particles can form free-standing structures like walls or arches. For some particle shapes, such as staples, the rigidity arises from interlocking of pairs of particles, but the origins of rigidity for non-interlocking particles remains unclear. We report on experiments and numerical simulations of sheared columns of "hexapods," particles consisting of three mutually orthogonal sphero-cylinders whose centers coincide. We vary the length-to-diameter aspect ratio, $\alpha$, of the sphero-cylinders and subject the packings to quasistatic direct shear. For small $\alpha$, we observe a finite yield stress. For large $\alpha$, however, the column becomes rigid when sheared, supporting stresses that increase sharply with increasing strain. Analysis of X-ray micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT) data collected during the shear reveals that the stiffening is associated with a tilted, oblate cluster of hexapods near the nominal shear plane in which particle deformation and average contact number both increase. Simulation results show that the particles are collectively under tension along one direction even though they do not interlock pairwise. These tensions comes from contact forces carrying large torques, and they are perpendicular to the compressive stresses in the packing. They counteract the tendency to dilate, thus stabilize the particle cluster., Comment: 12 pages, 23 figures

We discuss the results of simulations of an intruder pulled through a two-dimensional granular system by a spring, using a model designed to lend insight into the experimental findings described by Kozlowski et al. [Phys. Rev. E, 100, 032905 (2019)]. In that previous study the presence of basal friction between the grains and the base was observed to change the intruder dynamics from clogging to stick-slip. Here we first show that our simulation results are in excellent agreement with the experimental data for a variety of experimentally accessible friction coefficients governing interactions of particles with each other and with boundaries. Then, we use simulations to explore a broader range of parameter space, focusing on the friction between the particles and the base. We consider a range of both static and dynamic basal friction coefficients, which are difficult to vary smoothly in experiments. The simulations show that dynamic friction strongly affects the stick-slip behaviour when the coefficient is decreased below 0.1, while static friction plays only a marginal role in the intruder dynamics., Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

We report on a series of experiments in which a grain-sized intruder is pushed by a spring through a 2D granular material comprised of photoelastic disks in a Couette geometry. We study the intruder dynamics as a function of packing fraction for two types of supporting substrates: a frictional glass plate and a layer of water for which basal friction forces are negligible. We observe two dynamical regimes: intermittent flow, in which the intruder moves freely most of the time but occasionally gets stuck, and stick-slip dynamics, in which the intruder advances via a sequence of distinct, rapid events. When basal friction is present, we observe a smooth crossover between the two regimes as a function of packing fraction, and we find that reducing the interparticle friction coefficient causes the stick-slip regime to shift to higher packing fractions. When basal friction is eliminated, we observe intermittent flow at all accessible packing fractions. For all cases, we present results for the statistics of stick events, the intruder velocity, and the force exerted on the intruder by the grains. Our results indicate the qualitative importance of basal friction at high packing fractions and suggest a possible connection between intruder dynamics in a static material and clogging dynamics in granular flows., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, 1 table. V2: What is now Fig. 5 was added to clarify the raw data measured. References [27] and [37] were updated since they were published only recently

We study the jamming phase diagram of sheared granular material using a novel Couette shear set-up with multi-ring bottom. The set-up uses small basal friction forces to apply a volume-conserving linear shear with no shear band to a granular system composed of frictional photoelastic discs. The set-up can generate arbitrarily large shear strain due to its circular geometry, and the shear direction can be reversed, allowing us to measure a feature that distinguishes shear-jammed from fragile states. We report systematic measurements of the stress, strain and contact network structure at phase boundaries that have been difficult to access by traditional experimental techniques, including the yield stress curve and the jamming curve close to $\phi_{SJ}\approx 0.74$, the smallest packing fraction supporting a shear-jammed state. We observe fragile states created under large shear strain over a range of $\phi < \phi_{SJ}$. We also find a transition in the character of the quasi-static steady flow centered around $\phi_{SJ}$ on the yield curve as a function of packing fraction. Near $\phi_{SJ}$, the average contact number, fabric anisotropy, and non-rattler fraction all show a change of slope. Above $\phi_{F}\approx 0.7$ the steady flow shows measurable deviations from the basal linear shear profile, and above $\phi_c\approx 0.78$ the flow is localized in a shear band.

We investigate the jamming transition in a quasi-2D granular material composed of regular pentagons or disks subjected to quasistatic uniaxial compression. We report six major findings based on experiments with monodisperse photoelastic particles with static friction coefficient $\mu\approx 1$. (1) For both pentagons and disks, the onset of rigidity occurs when the average coordination number of non-rattlers, $Z_{nr}$ , reaches 3, and the dependence of $Z_{nr}$ on the packing fraction $\phi$ changes again when $Z_{nr}$ reaches 4. (2) Though the packing fractions $\phi_{c1}$ and $\phi_{c2}$ at these transitions differ from run to run, for both shapes the data from all runs with different initial configurations collapses when plotted as a function of the non-rattler fraction. (3) The averaged values of $\phi_{c1}$ and $\phi_{c2}$ for pentagons are around 1% smaller than those for disks. (4) Both jammed pentagons and disks show Gamma distribution of the Voronoi cell area with same parameters. (5) The jammed pentagons have similar translational order for particle centers but slightly less orientational order for contacting pairs comparing to jammed disks. (6) For jammed pentagons, the angle between edges at a face-to-vertex contact point shows a uniform distribution and the size of a cluster connected by face-to-face contacts shows a power-law distribution.

We consider the scaling properties characterizing the hyperuniformity (or anti-hyperuniformity) of long wavelength fluctuations in a broad class of one-dimensional substitution tilings. We present a simple argument that predicts the exponent $\alpha$ governing the scaling of Fourier intensities at small wavenumbers, tilings with $\alpha>0$ being hyperuniform, and confirm with numerical computations that the predictions are accurate for quasiperiodic tilings, tilings with singular continuous spectra, and limit-periodic tilings. Tilings with quasiperiodic or singular continuous spectra can be constructed with $\alpha$ arbitrarily close to any given value between $-1$ and $3$. Limit-periodic tilings can be constructed with $\alpha$ between $-1$ and $1$ or with Fourier intensities that approach zero faster than any power law., Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, to be submitted to Acta Crystallographica special issue: Aperiodic 2018

Hyperuniform systems, which include crystals, quasicrystals and special disordered systems, have attracted considerable recent attention, but rigorous analyses of the hyperuniformity of quasicrystals have been lacking because the support of the spectral intensity is dense and discontinuous. We employ the integrated spectral intensity, $Z(k)$, to quantitatively characterize the hyperuniformity of quasicrystalline point sets generated by projection methods. The scaling of $Z(k)$ as $k$ tends to zero is computed for one-dimensional quasicrystals and shown to be consistent with independent calculations of the variance, $\sigma^2(R)$, in the number of points contained in an interval of length $2R$. We find that one-dimensional quasicrystals produced by projection from a two-dimensional lattice onto a line of slope $1/\tau$ fall into distinct classes determined by the width of the projection window. For a countable dense set of widths, $Z(k) \sim k^4$; for all others, $Z(k)\sim k^2$. This distinction suggests that measures of hyperuniformity define new classes of quasicrystals in higher dimensions as well., Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures

We have developed a tunable colloidal system and a corresponding simulation model for studying the phase behavior of particles assembling under the influence of long-range magnetic interactions. A monolayer of paramagnetic particles is subjected to a spatially uniform magnetic field with a static perpendicular component and rapidly rotating in-plane component. The sign and strength of the interactions vary with the tilt angle $\theta$ of the rotating magnetic field. For a purely in-plane field, $\theta=90^{\circ}$, interactions are attractive and the experimental results agree well with both equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium predictions based on a two-body interaction model. For tilt angles $50^{\circ}\lesssim \theta\lesssim 55^{\circ}$, the two-body interaction gives a short-range attractive and long-range repulsive (SALR) interaction, which predicts the formation of equilibrium microphases. In experiments, however, a different type of assembly is observed. Inclusion of three-body (and higher-order) terms in the model does not resolve the discrepancy. We thus further characterize the anomalous behavior by measuring the time-dependent cluster size distribution., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures

We present a model of a mechanical system with a vibrational mode spectrum identical to the spectrum of electronic excitations in a tight-binding model of graphene. The model consists of point masses connected by elastic couplings, called "tri-bonds," that implement certain three-body interactions, which can be tuned by varying parameters that correspond to the relative hopping amplitudes on the different bond directions in graphene. In the mechanical model, this is accomplished by varying the location of a pivot point that determines the allowed rigid rotations of a single tri-bond. The infinite system constitutes a Maxwell lattice, with the number of degrees of freedom equal to the number of constraints imposed by the tri-bonds. We construct the equilibrium and compatibility matrices and analyze the model's phase diagram, which includes spectra with Weyl points for some placements of the pivot and topologically polarized phases for others. We then discuss the edge modes and associated states of self stress for strips cut from the periodic lattice. Finally, we suggest a physical realization of the tri-bond, which allows access to parameter regimes not available to experiments on (strained) graphene and may be used to create other two-dimensional mechanical metamaterials with different spectral features., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures; Submitted to New Journal of Physics focus issue on Topological Mechanics

Icosahedral quasicrystals (IQCs) with extremely high degrees of translational order have been produced in the laboratory and found in naturally occurring minerals, yet questions remain about how IQCs form. In particular, the fundamental question of how locally determined additions to a growing cluster can lead to the intricate long-range correlations in IQCs remains open. In answer to this question, we have developed an algorithm that is capable of producing a perfectly ordered IQC, yet relies exclusively on local rules for sequential, face-to-face addition of tiles to a cluster. When the algorithm is seeded with a special type of cluster containing a defect, we find that growth is forced to infinity with high probability and that the resultant IQC has a vanishing density of defects. The geometric features underlying this algorithm can inform analyses of experimental systems and numerical models that generate highly ordered quasicrystals., Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, 1 table

Limit-periodic structures are well ordered but nonperiodic, and hence have nontrivial vibrational modes. We study a ball and spring model with a limit-periodic pattern of spring stiffnesses and identify a set of extended modes with arbitrarily low participation ratios, a situation that appears to be unique to limit-periodic systems. The balls that oscillate with large amplitude in these modes live on periodic nets with arbitrarily large lattice constants. By studying periodic approximants to the limit-periodic structure, we present numerical evidence for the existence of such modes, and we give a heuristic explanation of their structure., Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures

The packing of hard spheres (HS) of diameter $\sigma$ in a cylinder has been used to model experimental systems, such as fullerenes in nanotubes and colloidal wire assembly. Finding the densest packings of HS under this type of confinement, however, grows increasingly complex with the cylinder diameter, $D$. Little is thus known about the densest achievable packings for $D>2.873\sigma$. In this work, we extend the identification of the packings up to $D=4.00\sigma$ by adapting Torquato-Jiao's adaptive-shrinking-cell formulation and sequential-linear-programming (SLP) technique. We identify 17 new structures, almost all of them chiral. Beyond $D\approx2.85\sigma$, most of the structures consist of an outer shell and an inner core that compete for being close packed. In some cases, the shell adopts its own maximum density configuration, and the stacking of core spheres within it is quasiperiodic. In other cases, an interplay between the two components is observed, which may result in simple periodic structures. In yet other cases, the very distinction between core and shell vanishes, resulting in more exotic packing geometries, including some that are three-dimensional extensions of structures obtained from packing hard disks in a circle., Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures

Phase transformations can be difficult to characterize at the microscopic level due to the inability to directly observe individual atomic motions. Model colloidal systems, by contrast, permit the direct observation of individual particle dynamics and of collective rearrangements, which allows for real-space characterization of phase transitions. Here, we study a quasi-two-dimensional, binary colloidal alloy that exhibits liquid-solid and solid-solid phase transitions, focusing on the kinetics of a diffusionless transformation between two crystal phases. Experiments are conducted on a monolayer of magnetic and nonmagnetic spheres suspended in a thin layer of ferrofluid and exposed to a tunable magnetic field. A theoretical model of hard spheres with point dipoles at their centers is used to guide the choice of experimental parameters and characterize the underlying materials physics. When the applied field is normal to the fluid layer, a checkerboard crystal forms; when the angle between the field and the normal is sufficiently large, a striped crystal assembles. As the field is slowly tilted away from the normal, we find that the transformation pathway between the two phases depends strongly on crystal orientation, field strength, and degree of confinement of the monolayer. In some cases, the pathway occurs by smooth magnetostrictive shear, while in others it involves the sudden formation of martensitic plates., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Soft Matter Latex template was used. Published online in Soft Matter, 2015

A 2D lattice model defined on a triangular lattice with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interactions based on the Taylor-Socolar monotile is known to have a limit-periodic ground state. The system reaches that state during a slow quench through an infinite sequence of phase transitions. We study the model as a function of the strength of the next-nearest-neighbor interactions, and introduce closely related 3D models with only nearest-neighbor interactions that exhibit limit-periodic phases. For models with no next-nearest-neighbor interactions of the Taylor-Socolar type, there is a large degenerate classes of ground states, including crystalline patterns and limit-periodic ones, but a slow quench still yields the limit-periodic state. For the Taylor-Socolar lattice model, we present calculations of the diffraction pattern for a particular decoration of the tile that permits exact expressions for the amplitudes, and identify domain walls that slow the relaxation times in the ordered phases. For one of the 3D models, we show that the phase transitions are first order, with equilibrium structures that can be more complex than in the 2D case, and we include a proof of aperiodicity for a geometrically simple tile with only nearest-neighbor matching rules., Comment: 25 pages, 28 figures; To appear in Physical Review E

We study two measures of the complexity of heterogeneous extended systems, taking random Boolean networks as prototypical cases. A measure defined by Shalizi et al. for cellular automata, based on a criterion for optimal statistical prediction [Shalizi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 118701 (2004)], does not distinguish between the spatial inhomogeneity of the ordered phase and the dynamical inhomogeneity of the disordered phase. A modification in which complexities of individual nodes are calculated yields vanishing complexity values for networks in the ordered and critical regimes and for highly disordered networks, peaking somewhere in the disordered regime. Individual nodes with high complexity are the ones that pass the most information from the past to the future, a quantity that depends in a nontrivial way on both the Boolean function of a given node and its location within the network., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

A certain two-dimensional lattice model with nearest and next-nearest neighbor interactions is known to have a limit-periodic ground state. We show that during a slow quench from the high temperature, disordered phase, the ground state emerges through an infinite sequence of phase transitions. We define appropriate order parameters and show that the transitions are related by renormalizations of the temperature scale. As the temperature is decreased, sublattices with increasingly large lattice constants become ordered. A rapid quench results in glass-like state due to kinetic barriers created by simultaneous freezing on sublattices with different lattice constants., Comment: 6 pages; 5 figures (minor changes, reformatted)

An aperiodic prototile is a shape for which infinitely many copies can be arranged to fill Euclidean space completely with no overlaps, but not in a periodic pattern. Tiling theorists refer to such a prototile as an "einstein" (a German pun on "one stone"). The possible existence of an einstein has been pondered ever since Berger's discovery of large set of prototiles that in combination can tile the plane only in a nonperiodic way. In this article we review and clarify some features of a prototile we recently introduced that is an einstein according to a reasonable definition. [This abstract does not appear in the published article.], Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. This article has been substantially revised and accepted for publication in the Mathematical Intelligencer and is scheduled to appear in Vol 33. Citations to and quotations from this work should reference that publication. If you cite this work, please check that the published form contains precisely the material to which you intend to refer

We show that a single prototile can fill space uniformly but not admit a periodic tiling. A two-dimensional, hexagonal prototile with markings that enforce local matching rules is proven to be aperiodic by two independent methods. The space--filling tiling that can be built from copies of the prototile has the structure of a union of honeycombs with lattice constants of $2^n a$, where $a$ sets the scale of the most dense lattice and $n$ takes all positive integer values. There are two local isomorphism classes consistent with the matching rules and there is a nontrivial relation between these tilings and a previous construction by Penrose. Alternative forms of the prototile enforce the local matching rules by shape alone, one using a prototile that is not a connected region and the other using a three--dimensional prototile., Comment: 32 pages, 24 figures; submitted to Journal of Combinatorial Theory Series A. Version 2 is a major revision. Parts of Version 1 have been expanded and parts have been moved to a separate article (arXiv:1003.4279)

We undertake a systematic study of the dynamics of Boolean networks to determine the origin of chaos observed in recent experiments. Networks with nodes consisting of ideal logic gates are known to display either steady states, periodic behavior, or an ultraviolet catastrophe where the number of logic-transition events circulating in the network per unit time grows as a power-law. In an experiment, non-ideal behavior of the logic gates prevents the ultraviolet catastrophe and may lead to deterministic chaos. We identify certain non-ideal features of real logic gates that enable chaos in experimental networks. We find that short-pulse rejection and the asymmetry between the logic states tends to engender periodic behavior, at least for the simplest networks. On the other hand, we find that a memory effect termed "degradation" can generate chaos. Our results strongly suggest that deterministic chaos can be expected in a large class of experimental Boolean-like networks. Such devices may find application in a variety of technologies requiring fast complex waveforms or flat power spectra, and can be used as a test-bed for fundamental studies of real-world Boolean-like networks., Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Delayed Complex Systems International Workshop 2009

We observe deterministic chaos in a simple network of electronic logic gates that are not regulated by a clocking signal. The resulting power spectrum is ultra-wide-band, extending from dc to beyond 2 GHz. The observed behavior is reproduced qualitatively using an autonomously updating Boolean model with signal propagation times that depend on the recent history of the gates and filtering of pulses of short duration, whose presence is confirmed experimentally. Electronic Boolean chaos may find application as an ultra-wide-band source of radio waves, Comment: 10 pages and 4 figure

Complex systems are often modeled as Boolean networks in attempts to capture their logical structure and reveal its dynamical consequences. Approximating the dynamics of continuous variables by discrete values and Boolean logic gates may, however, introduce dynamical possibilities that are not accessible to the original system. We show that large random networks of variables coupled through continuous transfer functions often fail to exhibit the complex dynamics of corresponding Boolean models in the disordered (chaotic) regime, even when each individual function appears to be a good candidate for Boolean idealization. A suitably modified Boolean theory explains the behavior of systems in which information does not propagate faithfully down certain chains of nodes. Model networks incorporating calculated or directly measured transfer functions reported in the literature on transcriptional regulation of genes are described by the modified theory., Comment: 7 pages, 1 table, 6 figures. Minor changes over previous version. accepted to PRE

This paper addresses the question of whether a single tile with nearest neighbor matching rules can force a tiling in which the tiles fall into a large number of isohedral classes. A single tile is exhibited that can fill the Euclidean plane only with a tiling that contains k distinct isohedral sets of tiles, where k can be made arbitrarily large. It is shown that the construction cannot work for a simply connected 2D tile with matching rules for adjacent tiles enforced by shape alone. It is also shown that any of the following modifications allows the construction to work: (1) coloring the edges of the tiling and imposing rules on which colors can touch; (2) allowing the tile to be multiply connected; (3) requiring maximum density rather than space-filling; (4) allowing the tile to have a thickness in the third dimension., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures. Published in The Mathematical Intelligencer. NOTE: The MI mistakenly published an earlier draft

The amount of mutual information contained in time series of two elements gives a measure of how well their activities are coordinated. In a large, complex network of interacting elements, such as a genetic regulatory network within a cell, the average of the mutual information over all pairs is a global measure of how well the system can coordinate its internal dynamics. We study this average pairwise mutual information in random Boolean networks (RBNs) as a function of the distribution of Boolean rules implemented at each element, assuming that the links in the network are randomly placed. Efficient numerical methods for calculating show that as the number of network nodes N approaches infinity, the quantity N exhibits a discontinuity at parameter values corresponding to critical RBNs. For finite systems it peaks near the critical value, but slightly in the disordered regime for typical parameter variations. The source of high values of N is the indirect correlations between pairs of elements from different long chains with a common starting point. The contribution from pairs that are directly linked approaches zero for critical networks and peaks deep in the disordered regime., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures; Minor revisions for clarity and figure format, one reference added

We study the stable attractors of a class of continuous dynamical systems that may be idealized as networks of Boolean elements, with the goal of determining which Boolean attractors, if any, are good approximations of the attractors of generic continuous systems. We investigate the dynamics in simple rings and rings with one additional self-input. An analysis of switching characteristics and pulse propagation explains the relation between attractors of the continuous systems and their Boolean approximations. For simple rings, "reliable" Boolean attractors correspond to stable continuous attractors. For networks with more complex logic, the qualitative features of continuous attractors are influenced by inherently non-Boolean characteristics of switching events., Comment: Revised and extended version. The methods section from version 2 is now an appendix and another appendix has been added. Submitted to PRE

We study networks representing the dynamics of elementary 1-d cellular automata (CA) on finite lattices. We analyze scaling behaviors of both local and global network properties as a function of system size. The scaling of the largest node in-degree is obtained analytically for a variety of CA including rules 22, 54 and 110. We further define the \emph{path diversity} as a global network measure. The co-appearance of non-trivial scaling in both hub size and path diversity separates simple dynamics from the more complex behaviors typically found in Wolfram's Class IV and some Class III CA., Comment: major revision; includes also improved numerics

We consider propagation models that describe the spreading of an attribute, called "damage", through the nodes of a random network. In some systems, the average fraction of nodes that remain undamaged vanishes in the large system limit, a phenomenon we refer to as exhaustive percolation. We derive scaling law exponents and exact results for the distribution of the number of undamaged nodes, valid for a broad class of random networks at the exhaustive percolation transition and in the exhaustive percolation regime. This class includes processes that determine the set of frozen nodes in random Boolean networks with indegree distributions that decay sufficiently rapidly with the number of inputs. Connections between our calculational methods and previous studies of percolation beginning from a single initial node are also pointed out. Central to our approach is the observation that key aspects of damage spreading on a random network are fully characterized by a single function specifying the probability that a given node will be damaged as a function of the fraction of damaged nodes. In addition to our analytical investigations of random networks, we present a numerical example of exhaustive percolation on a directed lattice., Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures; corrected errors in eq. (73) and some typos

We study the uniformly weighted ensemble of force balanced configurations on a triangular network of nontensile contact forces. For periodic boundary conditions corresponding to isotropic compressive stress, we find that the probability distribution for single-contact forces decays faster than exponentially. This super-exponential decay persists in lattices diluted to the rigidity percolation threshold. On the other hand, for anisotropic imposed stresses, a broader tail emerges in the force distribution, becoming a pure exponential in the limit of infinite lattice size and infinitely strong anisotropy., Comment: 11 pages, 17 figures Minor text revisions; added references and acknowledgment

We generalize a known analytical method for determining the stability of periodic orbits controlled by time-delay feedback methods when latencies associated with the generation and injection of the feedback signal cannot be ignored. We discuss the case of extended time-delay autosynchronization (ETDAS) and show that nontrivial qualitative features of the domain of control observed in experiments can be explained by taking into account the effects of both the unstable eigenmode and a single stable eigenmode in the Floquet theory., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures; Submitted to Physical Review E

Random Boolean networks, originally invented as models of genetic regulatory networks, are simple models for a broad class of complex systems that show rich dynamical structures. From a biological perspective, the most interesting networks lie at or near a critical point in parameter space that divides ``ordered'' from ``chaotic'' attractor dynamics. In the ordered regime, we show rigorously that the average number of relevant nodes (the ones that determine the attractor dynamics) remains constant with increasing system size N. For critical networks, our analysis and numerical results show that the number of relevant nodes scales like N^{1/3}. Numerical experiments also show that the median number of attractors in critical networks grows faster than linearly with N. The calculations explain why the correct asymptotic scaling is observed only for very large N., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; (Re)submitted to Physical Review Letters

A fundamental property of any material is its response to a localized stress applied at a boundary. For granular materials consisting of hard, cohesionless particles, not even the general form of the stress response is known. Directed force chain networks (DFCNs) provide a theoretical framework for addressing this issue, and analysis of simplified DFCN models reveal both rich mathematical structure and surprising properties. We review some basic elements of DFCN models and present a class of homogeneous solutions for cases in which force chains are restricted to lie on a discrete set of directions., Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, dcds-B.cls; Minor corrections to version 2, but including an important factor of 2; Submitted to Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems B for special issue honoring David Schaeffer

We study a scalar lattice model for inter-grain forces in static, non-cohesive, granular materials, obtaining two primary results. (i) The applied stress as a function of overall strain shows a power law dependence with a nontrivial exponent, which moreover varies with system geometry. (ii) Probability distributions for forces on individual grains appear Gaussian at all stages of compression, showing no evidence of exponential tails. With regard to both results, we identify correlations responsible for deviations from previously suggested theories., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, Submitted to PRE

We study a 1D ring of diffusively coupled logistic maps in the vicinity of an unstable, spatially homogeneous fixed point. The failure of linear controllers due to additive noise is discussed with the aim of clarifying the failure mechanism. A criterion is suggested for estimating the noise level that can be tolerated by the given controller. The criterion implies the loss of control for surprisingly low noise levels in certain cases of interest, and accurately accounts for the results of numerical experiments over a broad range of parameter values. Previous results of Grigoriev, et al (Phys. Rev. Lett., 79, 2795) are reviewed and compared with our numerical and analytical results., Comment: 16 pages including 3 figures

A lattice model is presented for investigating the fluctuations in static granular materials under gravitationally induced stress. The model is similar in spirit to the scalar q-model of Coppersmith et al., but ensures balance of all components of forces and torques at each site. The geometric randomness in real granular materials is modeled by choosing random variables at each site, consistent with the assumption of cohesionless grains. Configurations of the model can be generated rapidly, allowing the statistical study of relatively large systems. For a 2D system with rough walls, the model generates configurations consistent with continuum theories for the average stresses (unlike the q-model) without requiring the assumption of a constitutive relation. For a 2D system with periodic boundary conditions, the model generates single-grain force distributions similar to those obtained from the q-model with a singular distribution of q's., Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Uses aps,epsfig,graphicx,floats,revtex

We investigate a control technique for spatially extended systems combining spatial filtering with a previously studied form of time-delay feedback. The scheme is naturally suited to real-time control of optical systems. We apply the control scheme to a model of a transversely extended semiconductor laser in which a desirable, coherent traveling wave state exists, but is a member of a nowhere stable family. Our scheme stabilizes this state, and directs the system towards it from realistic, distant and noisy initial conditions. As confirmed by numerical simulation, a linear stability analysis about the controlled state accurately predicts when the scheme is successful, and illustrates some key features of the control including the individual merit of, and interplay between, the spatial and temporal degrees of freedom in the control., Comment: 9 pages REVTeX including 7 PostScript figures. To appear in Physical Review E

We suggest a spatially local feedback mechanism for stabilizing periodic orbits in spatially extended systems. Our method, which is based on a comparison between present and past states of the system, does not require the external generation of an ideal reference state and can suppress both absolute and convective instabilities. As an example, we analyze the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation in one dimension, showing how the time-delay feedback enlarges the stability domain for travelling waves., Comment: 4 pages REVTeX + postscript file with 3 figures

Extended time-delay auto-synchronization (ETDAS) is a promising technique for stabilizing unstable periodic orbits in low-dimensional dynamical systems. The technique involves continuous feedback of signals delayed by multiples of the orbit's period in a manner that is especially well-suited for fast systems and optical implementation. We show how to analyze the stability of a given implementation of ETDAS without explicit integration of time-delay equations. To illustrate the method and point out some nontrivial features of ETDAS, we obtain the domain of control for a period-one orbit of the driven, damped pendulum., Comment: 5 pages REVTeX + 4 PostScript figures, compressed and self-extracting. To appear in Physics Letters A