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Keller's conjecture
In geometry, Keller's conjecture is the conjecture that in any tiling of n-dimensional Euclidean space by identical hypercubes, there are two hypercubes that share an entire (n − 1)-dimensional face with each other. For instance, in any tiling of the plane by identical squares, some two squares must share an entire edge, as they do in the illustration.
This conjecture was introduced by Ott-Heinrich Keller (1930), after whom it is named. A breakthrough by Lagarias and Shor (1992) showed that it is false in ten or more dimensions, and after subsequent refinements, it is now known to be true in spaces of dimension at most seven and false in all higher dimensions. The proofs of these results use a reformulation of the problem in terms of the clique number of certain graphs now known as Keller graphs.
The related Minkowski lattice cube-tiling conjecture states that whenever a tiling of space by identical cubes has the additional property that the cubes' centers form a lattice, some cubes must meet face-to-face. It was proved by György Hajós in 1942.
Szabó (1993), Shor (2004), and Zong (2005) give surveys of work on Keller's conjecture and related problems.
A tessellation or tiling of a Euclidean space is, intuitively, a family of subsets that cover the whole space without overlapping. More formally, a family of closed sets, called tiles, forms a tiling if their union is the whole space and every two distinct sets in the family have disjoint interiors. A tiling is said to be monohedral if all of the tiles have the same shape (they are congruent to each other). Keller's conjecture concerns monohedral tilings in which all of the tiles are hypercubes of the same dimension as the space. As Szabó (1986) formulates the problem, a cube tiling is a tiling by congruent hypercubes in which the tiles are additionally required to all be translations of each other without any rotation, or equivalently, to have all of their sides parallel to the coordinate axes of the space. Not every tiling by congruent cubes has this property; for instance, three-dimensional space may be tiled by two-dimensional sheets of cubes that are twisted at arbitrary angles with respect to each other. In formulating the same problem, Shor (2004) instead considers all tilings of space by congruent hypercubes and states, without proof, that the assumption that cubes are axis-parallel can be added without loss of generality.
An n-dimensional hypercube has 2n faces of dimension n − 1 that are, themselves, hypercubes; for instance, a square has four edges, and a three-dimensional cube has six square faces. Two tiles in a cube tiling (defined in either of the above ways) meet face-to-face if there is an (n − 1)-dimensional hypercube that is a face of both of them. Keller's conjecture is the statement that every cube tiling has at least one pair of tiles that meet face-to-face in this way.
The original version of the conjecture stated by Keller was for a stronger statement: every cube tiling has a column of cubes all meeting face-to-face. This version of the problem is true or false for the same dimensions as its more commonly studied formulation. It is a necessary part of the conjecture that the cubes in the tiling all be congruent to each other, for if cubes of unequal sizes are allowed, then the Pythagorean tiling would form a counterexample in two dimensions.
The conjecture as stated does not require all of the cubes in a tiling to meet face-to-face with other cubes. Although tilings by congruent squares in the plane have the stronger property that every square meets edge-to-edge with another square, some of the tiles in higher-dimensional hypercube tilings may not meet face-to-face with any other tile. For instance, in three dimensions, the tetrastix structure formed by three perpendicular sets of square prisms can be used to construct a cube tiling, combinatorially equivalent to the Weaire–Phelan structure, in which one fourth of the cubes (the ones not part of any prism) are surrounded by twelve other cubes without meeting any of them face-to-face.
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Keller's conjecture
In geometry, Keller's conjecture is the conjecture that in any tiling of n-dimensional Euclidean space by identical hypercubes, there are two hypercubes that share an entire (n − 1)-dimensional face with each other. For instance, in any tiling of the plane by identical squares, some two squares must share an entire edge, as they do in the illustration.
This conjecture was introduced by Ott-Heinrich Keller (1930), after whom it is named. A breakthrough by Lagarias and Shor (1992) showed that it is false in ten or more dimensions, and after subsequent refinements, it is now known to be true in spaces of dimension at most seven and false in all higher dimensions. The proofs of these results use a reformulation of the problem in terms of the clique number of certain graphs now known as Keller graphs.
The related Minkowski lattice cube-tiling conjecture states that whenever a tiling of space by identical cubes has the additional property that the cubes' centers form a lattice, some cubes must meet face-to-face. It was proved by György Hajós in 1942.
Szabó (1993), Shor (2004), and Zong (2005) give surveys of work on Keller's conjecture and related problems.
A tessellation or tiling of a Euclidean space is, intuitively, a family of subsets that cover the whole space without overlapping. More formally, a family of closed sets, called tiles, forms a tiling if their union is the whole space and every two distinct sets in the family have disjoint interiors. A tiling is said to be monohedral if all of the tiles have the same shape (they are congruent to each other). Keller's conjecture concerns monohedral tilings in which all of the tiles are hypercubes of the same dimension as the space. As Szabó (1986) formulates the problem, a cube tiling is a tiling by congruent hypercubes in which the tiles are additionally required to all be translations of each other without any rotation, or equivalently, to have all of their sides parallel to the coordinate axes of the space. Not every tiling by congruent cubes has this property; for instance, three-dimensional space may be tiled by two-dimensional sheets of cubes that are twisted at arbitrary angles with respect to each other. In formulating the same problem, Shor (2004) instead considers all tilings of space by congruent hypercubes and states, without proof, that the assumption that cubes are axis-parallel can be added without loss of generality.
An n-dimensional hypercube has 2n faces of dimension n − 1 that are, themselves, hypercubes; for instance, a square has four edges, and a three-dimensional cube has six square faces. Two tiles in a cube tiling (defined in either of the above ways) meet face-to-face if there is an (n − 1)-dimensional hypercube that is a face of both of them. Keller's conjecture is the statement that every cube tiling has at least one pair of tiles that meet face-to-face in this way.
The original version of the conjecture stated by Keller was for a stronger statement: every cube tiling has a column of cubes all meeting face-to-face. This version of the problem is true or false for the same dimensions as its more commonly studied formulation. It is a necessary part of the conjecture that the cubes in the tiling all be congruent to each other, for if cubes of unequal sizes are allowed, then the Pythagorean tiling would form a counterexample in two dimensions.
The conjecture as stated does not require all of the cubes in a tiling to meet face-to-face with other cubes. Although tilings by congruent squares in the plane have the stronger property that every square meets edge-to-edge with another square, some of the tiles in higher-dimensional hypercube tilings may not meet face-to-face with any other tile. For instance, in three dimensions, the tetrastix structure formed by three perpendicular sets of square prisms can be used to construct a cube tiling, combinatorially equivalent to the Weaire–Phelan structure, in which one fourth of the cubes (the ones not part of any prism) are surrounded by twelve other cubes without meeting any of them face-to-face.