Theory of color symmetry for periodic and quasiperiodic crystals

The author presents a theory of color symmetry applicable to the description and classification of periodic as well as quasiperiodic colored crystals. This theory is an extension to multicomponent fields of the Fourier-space approach of Rokhsar, Wright, and Mermin. It is based on the notion of indistinguishability and a generalization of the traditional concepts of color point group and color space group. The theory is applied toward (I) the classification of all black and white space-group types on standard axial quasicrystals in two and three dimensions; (II) the classification of all black and white space-group types in the icosahedral system; (III) the determination of the possible numbers of colors in a standard two-dimensional N-fold symmetric color field whose components are all indistinguishable; and (IV) the classification of two-dimensional decagonal and pentagonal n-color space-group types, explicitly listed for n less than or equal to 25. [S0034-6861(97)00604-1].