Tilings of the plane and Thurston semi-norm (Q476389)

Let \(\mathcal{P}=\{p_1,\ldots,p_n\}\) be a collection of polygons with coloured edges in the plane. A \textit{tiling} of the plane made with \(\mathcal{P}\) is a collection of polygons which are all translates of the \(p_i\), cover the plane, have disjoint interiors and intersect only along a common edge of matching colour. The problem of whether a given \(\mathcal{P}\) admits a tiling of the plane is known to be undecidable. The main results of this article are the following: A given \(\mathcal{P}\) tiles the plane if and only if the two following conditions hold: (1) \(H^+_2(\mathrm{AP}_{\mathcal{P}},\mathbb{R})\neq\{0\}\), (2) the asymptotic Thurston semi-norm has a zero in \(S_2(\mathrm{AP}_{\mathcal{P}},\mathbb{R})\). Here, \(\mathrm{AP}_{\mathcal{P}}\) is the Anderson-Putnam CW-complex constructed from \(\mathcal{P}\), and \(H^+_2(\mathrm{AP}_{\mathcal{P}},\mathbb{R})\) is the second singular homology group of the branched surface \(\mathrm{AP}_{\mathcal{P}}\). The \textit{asymptotic Thurston semi-norm} is defined by the authors as follows: \(|||c|||=\lim_{m\to\infty}\frac{1}{m}\|mc\|\), where \(c\in H^+_2(\mathrm{AP}_{\mathcal{P}},\mathbb{Z})\) and \(\|c\|=-\max_{\mathcal{F}\in\hat{c}}\chi(\mathcal{F})\) for \(c\neq0\), and \(\|0\|=0\). Here \(\mathcal{F}\) is a compact oriented surface, and \(\hat{c}\) is the set of all such \(\mathcal{F}\) carried by \(\mathrm{AP}_{\mathcal{P}}\) whose associated cycle is \(c\).