In mathematics, a Meyer set or almost lattice is a relatively dense set X of points in the Euclidean plane or a higher-dimensional Euclidean space such that its Minkowski difference with itself is uniformly discrete. Meyer sets have several equivalent characterizations; they are named after Yves Meyer, who introduced and studied them in the context of diophantine approximation. Nowadays Meyer sets are best known as mathematical model for quasicrystals. However, Meyer's work precedes the discovery of quasicrystals by more than a decade and was entirely motivated by number theoretic questions. [1] [2]
A subset X of a metric space is relatively dense if there exists a number r such that all points of X are within distance r of X, and it is uniformly discrete if there exists a number ε such that no two points of X are within distance ε of each other. A set that is both relatively dense and uniformly discrete is called a Delone set. When X is a subset of a vector space, its Minkowski difference X − X is the set {x − y | x, y in X} of differences of pairs of elements of X. [3]
With these definitions, a Meyer set may be defined as a relatively dense set X for which X − X is uniformly discrete. Equivalently, it is a Delone set for which X − X is Delone, [1] or a Delone set X for which there exists a finite set F with X − X ⊂ X + F [4]
Some additional equivalent characterizations involve the set
defined for a given X and ε, and approximating (as ε approaches zero) the definition of the reciprocal lattice of a lattice. A relatively dense set X is a Meyer set if and only if
A character of an additively closed subset of a vector space is a function that maps the set to the unit circle in the plane of complex numbers, such that the sum of any two elements is mapped to the product of their images. A set X is a harmonious set if, for every character χ on the additive closure of X and every ε > 0, there exists a continuous character on the whole space that ε-approximates χ. Then a relatively dense set X is a Meyer set if and only if it is harmonious. [1]
Meyer sets include
In mathematics, specifically general topology, compactness is a property that seeks to generalize the notion of a closed and bounded subset of Euclidean space. The idea is that a compact space has no "punctures" or "missing endpoints", i.e., it includes all limiting values of points. For example, the open interval (0,1) would not be compact because it excludes the limiting values of 0 and 1, whereas the closed interval [0,1] would be compact. Similarly, the space of rational numbers is not compact, because it has infinitely many "punctures" corresponding to the irrational numbers, and the space of real numbers is not compact either, because it excludes the two limiting values and . However, the extended real number linewould be compact, since it contains both infinities. There are many ways to make this heuristic notion precise. These ways usually agree in a metric space, but may not be equivalent in other topological spaces.
In geometry, a set of points is convex if it contains every line segment between two points in the set. Equivalently, a convex set or a convex region is a set that intersects every line in a line segment, single point, or the empty set. For example, a solid cube is a convex set, but anything that is hollow or has an indent, for example, a crescent shape, is not convex.
In mathematical analysis, a metric space M is called complete if every Cauchy sequence of points in M has a limit that is also in M.
In mathematics, a metric space is a set together with a notion of distance between its elements, usually called points. The distance is measured by a function called a metric or distance function. Metric spaces are the most general setting for studying many of the concepts of mathematical analysis and geometry.
In mathematical analysis, the Weierstrass approximation theorem states that every continuous function defined on a closed interval [a, b] can be uniformly approximated as closely as desired by a polynomial function. Because polynomials are among the simplest functions, and because computers can directly evaluate polynomials, this theorem has both practical and theoretical relevance, especially in polynomial interpolation. The original version of this result was established by Karl Weierstrass in 1885 using the Weierstrass transform.
In mathematics, a topological space is, roughly speaking, a geometrical space in which closeness is defined but cannot necessarily be measured by a numeric distance. More specifically, a topological space is a set whose elements are called points, along with an additional structure called a topology, which can be defined as a set of neighbourhoods for each point that satisfy some axioms formalizing the concept of closeness. There are several equivalent definitions of a topology, the most commonly used of which is the definition through open sets, which is easier than the others to manipulate.
In mathematics, a real function of real numbers is said to be uniformly continuous if there is a positive real number such that function values over any function domain interval of the size are as close to each other as we want. In other words, for a uniformly continuous real function of real numbers, if we want function value differences to be less than any positive real number , then there is a positive real number such that for any and in any interval of length within the domain of .
In mathematics, an open set is a generalization of an open interval in the real line.
In topology, a discrete space is a particularly simple example of a topological space or similar structure, one in which the points form a discontinuous sequence, meaning they are isolated from each other in a certain sense. The discrete topology is the finest topology that can be given on a set. Every subset is open in the discrete topology so that in particular, every singleton subset is an open set in the discrete topology.
In mathematics, general topology is the branch of topology that deals with the basic set-theoretic definitions and constructions used in topology. It is the foundation of most other branches of topology, including differential topology, geometric topology, and algebraic topology.
Discrete geometry and combinatorial geometry are branches of geometry that study combinatorial properties and constructive methods of discrete geometric objects. Most questions in discrete geometry involve finite or discrete sets of basic geometric objects, such as points, lines, planes, circles, spheres, polygons, and so forth. The subject focuses on the combinatorial properties of these objects, such as how they intersect one another, or how they may be arranged to cover a larger object.
In topology and related areas of mathematics, the set of all possible topologies on a given set forms a partially ordered set. This order relation can be used for comparison of the topologies.
In mathematical analysis, a family of functions is equicontinuous if all the functions are continuous and they have equal variation over a given neighbourhood, in a precise sense described herein. In particular, the concept applies to countable families, and thus sequences of functions.
In topology and related branches of mathematics, total-boundedness is a generalization of compactness for circumstances in which a set is not necessarily closed. A totally bounded set can be covered by finitely many subsets of every fixed “size”.
In Diophantine approximation, a subfield of number theory, the Oppenheim conjecture concerns representations of numbers by real quadratic forms in several variables. It was formulated in 1929 by Alexander Oppenheim and later the conjectured property was further strengthened by Harold Davenport and Oppenheim. Initial research on this problem took the number n of variables to be large, and applied a version of the Hardy-Littlewood circle method. The definitive work of Margulis, settling the conjecture in the affirmative, used methods arising from ergodic theory and the study of discrete subgroups of semisimple Lie groups.
In topology and related areas of mathematics, a subset A of a topological space X is said to be dense in X if every point of X either belongs to A or else is arbitrarily "close" to a member of A — for instance, the rational numbers are a dense subset of the real numbers because every real number either is a rational number or has a rational number arbitrarily close to it. Formally, is dense in if the smallest closed subset of containing is itself.
In mathematics, a harmonious set is a subset of a locally compact abelian group on which every weak character may be uniformly approximated by strong characters. Equivalently, a suitably defined dual set is relatively dense in the Pontryagin dual of the group. This notion was introduced by Yves Meyer in 1970 and later turned out to play an important role in the mathematical theory of quasicrystals. Some related concepts are model sets, Meyer sets, and cut-and-project sets.
In the mathematical theory of metric spaces, ε-nets, ε-packings, ε-coverings, uniformly discrete sets, relatively dense sets, and Delone sets are several closely related definitions of well-spaced sets of points, and the packing radius and covering radius of these sets measure how well-spaced they are. These sets have applications in coding theory, approximation algorithms, and the theory of quasicrystals.
Quasicrystals and Geometry is a book on quasicrystals and aperiodic tiling by Marjorie Senechal, published in 1995 by Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0-521-37259-3).
Blichfeldt's theorem is a mathematical theorem in the geometry of numbers, stating that whenever a bounded set in the Euclidean plane has area , it can be translated so that it includes at least points of the integer lattice. Equivalently, every bounded set of area contains a set of points whose coordinates all differ by integers.