Remark on the dimer problem (Q1329818)

Let \(S_ n\) be the \(2n \times 2n\) square grid, and let \(c (S_ n)\) denote the number of dimer coverings of \(S_ n\) (or equivalently, the number of domino tilings of \(S_ n\)). A classical result states that, as \(n \mapsto \infty\), \(\log c(S_ n)\) is asymptotically \(C_ S | S_ n |\), were \(C_ S\) is a positive constant and \(| S_ n |\) (\(= 4n^ 2\)) is the number of squares in \(S_ n\). The authors show that the asymptotics of the number of dimer coverings is very sensitive to changes of the basis shape of \(S_ n\). They describe another sequence of square-like arrangements \(T_ n\) of squares for which the corresponding number \(\log c (T_ n)\) is asymptotically equivalent to \(C_ T \sqrt {| T_ n |}\), where \(C_ T\) is a (known) positive constant. The squares on the boundary of \(T_ n\) are positioned along diagonals of the square tesselation of the plane.