Elegance in Crystal Symmetry

MAR 01, 2001

N. David Mermin

Mermin replies: I’m glad that Ted Janssen sees some elegance in the approach to crystal symmetry that my collaborators and I developed for aperiodic crystals, and I’m pleased to return the compliment to the standard approach of him and his collaborators.

As far as I know, the precise connection was only recently spelled out between our phase (gauge) functions and the rather different phases (factor systems) that appear in the venerable theory of space-group representations. ¹ This link offers a more direct and elementary route from crystal symmetry to some of the major physical applications of space-group representations. ²

References

1. A. Koenig, N. D. Mermin, Phys. Rev. B 56, 13607 (1997) https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.56.13607 .
2. A. Koenig, N. D. Mermin, Am. J. Phys. 68, 525 (2000) https://doi.org/10.1119/1.19479 .

More about the Authors

N. David Mermin. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, US .