Crystallographic properties of local groups of a Delone set in a Euclidean plane (Q2172348)

A subset \(X\) of the two-dimensional Euclidean plane is called a Delone set of type \((r,R)\), where \(r>0\) and \(R>0\), if any open circular disk of radius \(r\) contains at most one point of \(X\) and any closed circular disk of radius \(R\) contains at least one point of \(X\). \(r\) and \(R\) are assumed to be, respectively, the maximum and minimum possible values for \(X\). For a Delone set \(X\) consider clusters \(C_x(\rho)\) which are subsets of \(X\) within the closed circular disk of radius \(\rho\) centered at \(x\). The local group \(G_x\) at a point \(x\) is the group of all isometries of the plane that keep the point \(x\) fixed and map the cluster \(C_x(2R)\) onto itself, where \(R\) is the covering radius of the Delone set \(X\). The main result of the paper is as follows. In any Delone set on the Euclidean plane, a subset of points with a crystallographic local group, i.e. with local rotations of orders \(n=1\), 2, 3, 4, or 6, is also a Delone set. The result has implications for regular systems and crystalline structures.