Locality constraints and 2D quasicrystals

The plausible assumption that long-range interactions between atoms are negligible in a quasicrystal leaks to the study of tilings that obey constraints on the local configurations of tiles. The theory of such constraints (called matching rules) for 2D quasicrystal tilings is reviewed here. Different types of matching rules are defined and examples of tilings obeying them are given where known. The role of tile decoration is discussed and is shown to be significant in at least two cases (octagonal and dodecagonal duals of periodic 4-grids and 6-grids). A new result is introduced: a constructive procedure is described for generating weak matching rules for tilings with N-fold symmetry, for any N that is either a prime number or twice a prime number. The physics associated with weak matching rules, results on local growth rules, and the case of icosahedral symmetry are all briefly discussed. (author). 29 refs, 4 figs