However, any deterministic structure has zero entropy (as has any sufficiently small deviation from it), so entropy is a rather crude measure of order. Clearly, entropy can distinguish deterministic from random systems, and looking at different forms of scaling behaviour makes it possible to differentiate, at least to some extent, between different degrees of disorder. Entropy takes into account the number of different local configurations of a system, and how this number grows with the system size normally you are looking at an exponential growth with the system size, and any sub-exponential growth corresponds to zero entropy. The second approach, which is particularly suited to stochastic systems, employs the entropy of a structure. Neither do we have a good understanding of what structures with an essentially pure point spectrum may look like. 928).īecause the inverse problem of diffraction is inherently difficult (Bombieri & Taylor, 1986 ) and, in general, not unique (Patterson, 1944 ), we do not have a complete characterization of structures that show pure point diffraction (which means that the diffraction consists of Bragg peaks only), even in the idealized case of a perfect structure. Note that the definition originally proposed in 1991 did not include this restriction (International Union of Crystallography, 1992, p. Note that n is restricted to be finite here, so this particular form of the definition excludes pure point diffractive systems with non-finitely generated Fourier modules (over integer coefficients) the definition stipulates that Bragg peaks in crystals can be indexed by a finite number of integer coefficients. By allowing the integer n to be larger than the three space dimensions we live in, aperiodic crystals are included in this definition, and conventional (periodic) crystals have become a special class (for which n = 3). The interpretation given in the definition that `essentially' means that most of the intensity is concentrated in Bragg peaks implies that the integrated contribution from the background must be weak compared to the Bragg diffraction, which is rather arbitrary, as any Bragg diffraction indicates order. The prominent role of the word essentially shows that this is a humble definition, in the sense that it reflects our limited knowledge of the structures one may potentially encounter in nature. The conventional crystals are a special class, though very large, for which n = 3. Here and h i are the basis vectors of the reciprocal lattice and integer coefficients respectively and the number n is the minimum for which the positions of the peaks can be described with the integer coefficient h i. The following quotes the more specific definition given in Authier & Chapuis (2014 ), and used in the IUCr Online Dictionary of Crystallography. The current definition of a crystal, which is based on its diffraction, was adapted from a proposed definition that first appeared in the terms of reference of the IUCr Commission on Aperiodic Crystals, published in the 1991 report of the IUCr Executive Committee (International Union of Crystallography, 1992, p. Diffraction is the approach taken to characterize crystalline materials. For kinematic diffraction, in the far-field approximation, the diffraction measure is the Fourier transform of the autocorrelation (or Patterson) function. One is to employ diffraction, which effectively measures two-point correlations in the structure see Cowley (1995 ) for background. There are two common approaches to tackle this issue. As a consequence, there currently is no satisfactory measure to quantify order in any given spatial structure. It may thus be surprising that a concept as fundamental as order does not have any well defined precise meaning, and that it appears to be rather challenging to come up with a proper definition of what constitutes order in a structure. The ability to detect and describe patterns is also at the basis of all scientific enquiry see Mumford & Desolneux (2010 ) for more on pattern theory. The human brain is very skilled at detecting patterns and recognizing order in a structure, and ordered structures permeate cultural achievements of human civilizations, be it in the arts, architecture or music.
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