title: Graph-theoretical characterization of periodicity in crystallographic nets and other infinite graphs.
abstract: Local automorphisms in infinite graphs are defined as those automorphisms for which the distance (in the graph-theoretical sense) between any vertex and its image possesses an upper bound. Abelian subgroups of direction-preserving local automorphisms without fixed point, so-called shift groups, are used to determine the quotient graph of infinite graphs. It is shown that the shift group, the closest topological analogue to a translation group in crystal structures, is isomorphic to the quotient group C/C(0) of the cycle space C of the quotient graph by some subgroup C(0), its kernel. As a main consequence, the isomorphism class of nets can be determined directly from their labeled quotient graph, without having recourse to any embedding. A general method is formulated and illustrated in the case of cristobalite and moganite structures. Application to carbon and other kinds of nanotubes is also described.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, A-631 Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro 21945-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jean-Guillaume
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Eon
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003460:Crystallization; D003461:Crystallography; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry; D010507:Periodicity; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D012822:Silicon Dioxide