Fusion: a general framework for hierarchical tilings of \(\mathbb{R }^d\) (Q741623)

This article develops a formalism towards handling \textit{hierarchical tilings}. These are tilings of \(\mathbb R^d\) coming with a hierarchy of coarser tilings, with more and more tiles being fused together. More precisely, the authors consider a group \(G\) acting by isometries on \(\mathbb R^d\), and a finite collection \(\mathcal P_0\) of tiles -- subsets of \(\mathbb R^d\) homeomorphic to closed balls -- such that some union of \(G\)-translates of elements of \(\mathcal P_0\) cover all of \(\mathbb R^d\) with empty-interior intersections. Select then a finite collection \(\mathcal P_1\) of tiles, each of which is a finite union of \(G\)-translates of elements of \(\mathcal P_0\) with empty-interior intersection, then \(\mathcal P_2\), etc. The data of all \(\mathcal P_n\) constitutes a \textit{fusion rule} \(\mathcal R\). An actual tiling of \(\mathbb R^d\) follows the fusion rule \(\mathcal R\) if its tiles belong to \(\mathcal P_0\) and if every finite union of tiles in it is contained in some \(G\)-translate of some tile in some \(\mathcal P_n\). The space \(X_{\mathcal R}\) of all tilings following a given fusion rule \(\mathcal R\) is naturally a topological space (two tilings are close to each other if they differ by a small \(G\)-movement on a large ball), endowed with a continuous \(G\)-action by homeomorphisms. A large part of the text phrases tiling problems in terms of the \(G\)-space \(X_{\mathcal R}\), and explores its properties: is the \(G\)-action minimal? is it ergodic? uniquely ergodic? topologically mixing? The authors then consider a \(G\)-invariant probability measure \(\mu\) on \(X_{\mathcal R}\); so \(G\) acts linearly on \(L^2(X_{\mathcal R},\mu)\). They study the spectrum of the operators associated with the \(G\)-action, and derive conditions for them to have pure point spectrum. In parallel with the formalism developed in the paper, a large number of examples, some classical and some original ones, are presented.