Undecidability of translational monotilings

In the 1960s, Berger famously showed that translational tilings of \mathbb{Z}^{2} with multiple tiles are algorithmically undecidable. Recently, Bhattacharya proved the decidability of translational monotilings (tilings by translations of a single tile) in \mathbb{Z}^{2} . The decidability of translational monotilings in higher dimensions remained unsolved. In this paper, by combining our recently developed techniques with ideas introduced by Aanderaa–Lewis, we finally settle this problem, achieving the undecidability of translational monotilings of (periodic subsets of) virtually \mathbb{Z}^{2} spaces, namely, spaces of the form \mathbb{Z}^{2}\times G_{0} , where G_{0} is a finite Abelian group. This also implies the undecidability of translational monotilings in \mathbb{Z}^{d} , d\geq 3 .

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of the European Mathematical Society
Published
2025-06-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4171/jems/1673
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Cellular Automata and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.50
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article

Undecidability of translational monotilings

Rachel Greenfeld, Terence Tao
1 citations
Journal of the European Mathematical Society
Cellular Automata and Applications
1.50
article

Undecidability of translational monotilings

Rachel Greenfeld, Terence Tao
article en
1 citations

Abstract

In the 1960s, Berger famously showed that translational tilings of \mathbb{Z}^{2} with multiple tiles are algorithmically undecidable. Recently, Bhattacharya proved the decidability of translational monotilings (tilings by translations of a single tile) in \mathbb{Z}^{2} . The decidability of translational monotilings in higher dimensions remained unsolved. In this paper, by combining our recently developed techniques with ideas introduced by Aanderaa–Lewis, we finally settle this problem, achieving the undecidability of translational monotilings of (periodic subsets of) virtually \mathbb{Z}^{2} spaces, namely, spaces of the form \mathbb{Z}^{2}\times G_{0} , where G_{0} is a finite Abelian group. This also implies the undecidability of translational monotilings in \mathbb{Z}^{d} , d\geq 3 .

Journal of the European Mathematical Society
Northwestern University (US), University of California, Los Angeles (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 16%
Cellular Automata and Applications
1.50
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