Title: Tilings of Benzels (and other finite regions) in the hexagon grid
| Speaker | Leigh Foster |
| Affiliation | University of Wtaerloo |
| Location | MC 6029 |
Abstract: In 1990, Conway and Lagarias introduced tilability criteria for tilability for finite regions of the hexagon and square grids. In the same year, Thurston expanded upon their work, introducing the height function criterion. We will discuss some new results in tilability: A new tilability criteria via the SL_2(C) double dimer model, and enumeration of tilings of special regions called Benzels, introduced in 2020 by Propp, using a technique called compression. If time allows, we will also discuss ongoing work that expands Thurston's height function to stone-and-bone tilings of the hexagon grid.
There will be a pre-seminar presenting relevant background at the beginning graduate level starting at 1:30pm.