Ribbon Tilings and Multidimensional Height Functions

Abstract

We fix $n$ and say a square in the two-dimensional grid indexed by $(x,y)$ has color $c$ if $x+y \equiv c \pmod{n}$. A {\it ribbon tile} of order $n$ is a connected polyomino containing exactly one square of each color. We show that the set of order-$n$ ribbon tilings of a simply connected region $R$ is in one-to-one correspondence with a set of {\it height functions} from the vertices of $R$ to $\mathbb Z^{n}$ satisfying certain difference restrictions. It is also in one-to-one correspondence with the set of acyclic orientations of a certain partially oriented graph. Using these facts, we describe a linear (in the area of $R$) algorithm for determining whether $R$ can be tiled with ribbon tiles of order $n$ and producing such a tiling when one exists. We also resolve a conjecture of Pak by showing that any pair of order-$n$ ribbon tilings of $R$ can be connected by a sequence of local replacement moves. Some of our results are generalizations of known results for order-2 ribbon tilings (a.k.a. domino tilings). We also discuss applications of multidimensional height functions to a broader class of polyomino tiling problems.