Domino tilings and flips in dimensions 4 and higher

Abstract: In this paper we consider domino tilings of bounded regions in dimension

n g e q 4

. We define the twist of such a tiling, an elements of

m a t h b b Z / (2)

, and prove it is invariant under flips, a simple local move in the space of tilings. We investigate which regions

D

are regular, i.e. whenever two tilings

t_{0}

and

t_{1}

of

D i m e s [0, N]

have the same twist then

t_{0}

and

t_{1}

can be joined by a sequence of flips provided some extra vertical space is allowed. We prove that all boxes are regular except

D = [0, 2]^{3}

. Furthermore, given a regular region

D

, we show that there exists a value

M

(depending only on

D

) such that if

t_{0}

and

t_{1}

are tilings of equal twist of

D i m e s [0, N]

then the corresponding tilings can be joined by a finite sequence of flips in

D i m e s [0, N + M]

. As a corollary we deduce that, for regular

D

and large

N

, the set of tilings of

D i m e s [0, N]

has two twin giant components under flips, one for each value of the twist.

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