Binary Non-tiles

Abstract

A subset V of GF(2)^n is a tile if GF(2)^n can be covered by disjoint translates of V. In other words, V is a tile if and only if there is a subset A of GF(2)^n such that V+A = GF(2)^n uniquely (i.e., v + a = v' + a' implies that v=v' and a=a' where v,v' in V and a,a' in A). In some problems in coding theory and hashing we are given a putative tile V, and wish to know whether or not it is a tile. In this paper we give two computational criteria for certifying that V is not a tile. The first involves impossibility of a bin-packing problem, and the second involves infeasibility of a linear program. We apply both criteria to a list of putative tiles given by Gordon, Miller, and Ostapenko in that none of them are, in fact, tiles.