Perfect matchings and perfect squares (Q1331146)

The author investigates (perfect) matchings of a large class of graphs with 4-fold rotational symmetry. It is proved by mostly combinatorial arguments that the number of such matchings is always a square or double a square. This result has an interesting application to tilings by dominoes. The number of domino tilings of a \(2n \times 2n\) chessboard is always a square or double a square, confirming the result of \textit{P. W. Kasteleyn} [``The statistics of dimers on a lattice. I: The number of dimer arrangements on a quadratic lattice'', Physica 27, 1209-1225 (1961)] which had been obtained by other methods. The author also extends his result to graphs with other rotational symmetries. The present work was originally the author's PhD thesis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.