Crystalline Symmetries An Informal Mathematical Introduction

Crystalline Symmetries: an informal mathematical introduction is a guided tour through the maze of mathematical models and classifications that are used today to describe the symmetries of crystals. The mathematical basis of crystallography and the interpretation of The International Tables for X-ray Crystallography are explained in a heuristic and accessible way. In addition to discussing standard crystals, a special feature of this book is the chapter on generalised crystals and the Penrose tile model for the kinds of generalised crystals known as quasicrystals. This fruitful interaction between pure mathematics (symmetry, tilings) and physics should prove invaluable to final year undergraduate/graduate physicists and materials scientists; the reader gets a flavour of the powerful coherence of a group theoretical approach to crystallography. Mathematicians interested in applications of group theory to physical science will also find this book useful.