Hard squares with negative activity and rhombus tilings of the plane (Q2500986)

Summary: Let \(S_{m,n}\) be the graph on the vertex set \({\mathbb Z}_m \times {\mathbb Z}_n\) in which there is an edge between \((a,b)\) and \((c,d)\) if and only if either \((a,b) = (c,d\pm 1)\) or \((a,b) = (c \pm 1,d)\) modulo \((m,n)\). We present a formula for the Euler characteristic of the simplicial complex \(\Sigma_{m,n}\) of independent sets in \(S_{m,n}\). In particular, we show that the unreduced Euler characteristic of \(\Sigma_{m,n}\) vanishes whenever \(m\) and \(n\) are coprime, thereby settling a conjecture in statistical mechanics due to Fendley, Schoutens and van Eerten. For general \(m\) and \(n\), we relate the Euler characteristic of \(\Sigma_{m,n}\) to certain periodic rhombus tilings of the plane. Using this correspondence, we settle another conjecture due to Fendley et al., which states that all roots of \(\det (xI-T_m)\) are roots of unity, where \(T_m\) is a certain transfer matrix associated to \(\{\Sigma_{m,n} : n \geq 1\}\). In the language of statistical mechanics, the reduced Euler characteristic of \(\Sigma_{m,n}\) coincides with minus the partition function of the corresponding hard square model with activity \(-1\).