The groups
A field says which part of the subject an essay belongs to and a ladder says what else there is to say about one idea. This is the third index the subject asks for and the most obvious one: the groups themselves. A reader who arrives holding a symbol wants the pictures of that symbol wherever they were drawn, and a reader who has just met p4g wants to know it is also on four other pages arguing about something else entirely.
There are 17 wallpaper groups and 7 frieze groups, and every one of them is drawn somewhere here — 452 appearances in all. Neither count is typed into this page. Both are the length of a list this site enumerates rather than quotes, and the appearances are found by reading every essay for figure calls and picking the symbols out of their arguments.
Each symbol below is derived from the group's own operations rather than copied from a table: the operations are generated, each reflection is sorted by the direction it reverses, and the letters are read off what is actually there. The derivation is required to arrive back at the standard name, so a wrong convention would show up as a symbol that does not match. What the characters mean, position by position, is on the notation page.
Every card carries the group's own pattern, generated from a three-point motif and then handed to a detector that rediscovers the group from the drawing. Nothing on this page is an illustration of a group: each one is the group, drawn.
The seventeen
Grouped by the lattice each one needs, which is the constraint that produces the classification in the first place. Inside names the groups that contain this one as a maximal subgroup.
oblique lattice 2 groups
p1
1 operation modulo translations · no rotation
Drawn in 20 essays, by 13 generators
- Domains of a subgroup
- Every wall names a generator
- Five lattices, and no others
- How fast a group grows
- Orbifold notation, the shorter language
- Seven friezes
- Seventeen dollars
- Systematic absences
- Telling two words apart
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The descent with no shortcut
- The domains a lost translation makes, which nothing optical can see
- The fundamental domain
- The lattice underneath
- The seventeen
- The symmetry diffraction adds
- The two that fold into a surface
- Twenty-five of the thirty-two can twin, and seven cannot
- Two colours, and a symmetry that swaps them
- Why it is a group and not a list
absences · cayley · colour-classes · compose · domain-index · friedel · fundamental-domain · seventeen · subgroup-chain · twin-plate · two-colour · wallpaper · word-form
p2
2 operations modulo translations · 2-fold rotation
Drawn in 25 essays, by 15 generators
- Five lattices, and no others
- How fast a group grows
- How few operations make a pattern
- How many subgroups of index three
- Reduction modulo three
- Seven friezes
- Seventeen dollars
- Seventy-four colourings, forty-six groups
- The arrangements a crystal keeps at absolute zero
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The domains a lost translation makes, which nothing optical can see
- The fundamental domain
- The groups a single hand may sit in
- The groups ornament actually uses
- The normaliser is not a function of the group
- The phase problem
- The same pattern, described twice
- The seventeen
- The symmetry of an average
- The zones that behave as if there were a centre
- Three phases that do not move when the origin does
- Two colours, and a symmetry that swaps them
- Two mirrors a coset cannot tell apart
- Two ways down from a group
- Why it is a group and not a list
cayley · colour-classes · compose · detour · disorder · fundamental-domain · generating-set · motif-matters · normaliser · one-hand · phase-problem · seventeen · subgroup-kinds · wallpaper · word-form
rectangular lattice 5 groups
pmstrictly p11m
2 operations modulo translations · no rotation
insidepmm
Drawn in 17 essays, by 10 generators
- A lattice is not a subgroup
- Centring, and why cm is not pm
- Domains of a subgroup
- Five lattices, and no others
- How many subgroups of index three
- Seven friezes
- Seventeen dollars
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The four groups with a centre
- The same pattern, described twice
- The seventeen
- The symmetry diffraction adds
- The zones that behave as if there were a centre
- Two colours, and a symmetry that swaps them
- Two mirrors a coset cannot tell apart
- Why it is a group and not a list
- Why the bigger cell wins
abelian · colour-classes · detour · domain-index · friedel · isomorphic-subgroup · normaliser · seventeen · wallpaper · word-form
pgstrictly p11g
2 operations modulo translations · no rotation
insidepmg
Drawn in 25 essays, by 15 generators
- A glide sticks two levels together
- As sharp as the sphere is wide
- Centring, and why cm is not pm
- How many waves a group permits
- Indexing a powder pattern
- One experiment gives the cosine, the other gives the sine
- Reading Hermann–Mauguin
- Seven friezes
- Seventeen dollars
- Seventeen groups, seven vector sets
- Seventeen, without a picture
- Systematic absences
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The degeneracy time reversal forces
- The four motions of the plane
- The groups a single hand may sit in
- The map that needs no phases
- The points a group treats differently
- The seventeen
- The symmetry diffraction adds
- The two that fold into a surface
- Two colours, and a symmetry that swaps them
- Which modes a site can carry
- Why it is a group and not a list
- Why the bigger cell wins
absences · colour-classes · folded-flat · friedel · harker · k-bands · k-star · one-hand · operation · order-parameter · patterson-map · phase-circles · seventeen · wallpaper · wyckoff
pmmstrictly p2mm
4 operations modulo translations · 2-fold rotation
insidep4m
Drawn in 21 essays, by 14 generators
- A glide sticks two levels together
- A layer is not a wallpaper
- Counting what a group cannot tell apart
- Domains of a subgroup
- Every colour count at once
- How fast a group grows
- How few operations make a pattern
- Seven friezes
- Seventeen dollars
- Seventy-four colourings, forty-six groups
- Systematic absences
- The cell a zone-boundary mode doubles
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The domains a lost translation makes, which nothing optical can see
- The phase problem
- The same site under two names
- The seventeen
- Two colours, and a symmetry that swaps them
- Two ways down from a group
- Why it is a group and not a list
- Why the bigger cell wins
absences · cayley · colour-classes · compose · domain-index · generating-set · k-star · layer-groups · normaliser · order-parameter · phase-problem · seventeen · subgroup-kinds · two-colour
pmgstrictly p2mg
4 operations modulo translations · 2-fold rotation
inside nothing on this lattice — it is maximal
Drawn in 12 essays, by 6 generators
- A glide sticks two levels together
- A layer is not a wallpaper
- Reading Hermann–Mauguin
- Seven friezes
- Seventeen dollars
- The cell a zone-boundary mode doubles
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The four motions of the plane
- The friezes inside the seventeen
- The seventeen
- The zones that behave as if there were a centre
- Why it is a group and not a list
absences · detour · k-star · operation · seventeen · wallpaper
pggstrictly p2gg
4 operations modulo translations · 2-fold rotation
insidep4g
Drawn in 21 essays, by 13 generators
- A coincidence the group did not ask for
- A glide sticks two levels together
- Every wall names a generator
- Orbifold notation, the shorter language
- Seventeen dollars
- Seventeen groups, seven vector sets
- Systematic absences
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The four motions of the plane
- The fundamental domain
- The motif must be a comma
- The reflections a superlattice adds
- The same group means the same pattern
- The same symmetry, somewhere else
- The seventeen
- The star of a wavevector
- The two that fold into a surface
- The zones that behave as if there were a centre
- What a powder pattern loses
- Where symmetry stacks the vectors
- Why it is a group and not a list
absences · cayley · detour · extension-count · folded-flat · fundamental-domain · harker · k-bands · k-star · orbit-build · powder · seventeen · wallpaper
centred rectangular lattice 2 groups
cmstrictly c11m
2 operations modulo translations · no rotation
Drawn in 15 essays, by 8 generators
- A row written as a product
- Centring, and why cm is not pm
- Domains of a subgroup
- Five lattices, and no others
- How much pattern is enough
- Seventeen dollars
- The cell is a choice, the lattice is not
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The orbit is the pattern
- The seventeen
- The symmetry diffraction adds
- The two that fold into a surface
- Two colours, and a symmetry that swaps them
- Why it is a group and not a list
- Why the bigger cell wins
colour-classes · domain-index · folded-flat · friedel · isomorphic-subgroup · seventeen · wallpaper · window-size
cmmstrictly c2mm
4 operations modulo translations · 2-fold rotation
Drawn in 18 essays, by 10 generators
- A layer is not a wallpaper
- An order parameter is a representation
- Centring, and why cm is not pm
- Domains of a subgroup
- How fast a group grows
- Seven friezes
- Seventeen dollars
- Seventy-four colourings, forty-six groups
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The orbit is the pattern
- The points a group treats differently
- The same site under two names
- The seventeen
- The symmetry of an average
- The zones that behave as if there were a centre
- Two colours, and a symmetry that swaps them
- Why it is a group and not a list
- Why the bigger cell wins
cayley · detour · disorder · domain-index · normaliser · order-parameter · seventeen · two-colour · wallpaper · wyckoff
square lattice 3 groups
p4strictly p411
4 operations modulo translations · 4-fold rotation
Drawn in 49 essays, by 33 generators
- A group in four letters
- A merohedral twin moves no spot at all
- A row written as a product
- A twin is a symmetry the lattice has and the crystal does not
- As sharp as the sphere is wide
- Counting what a group cannot tell apart
- Crystallography in a box
- Domains of a subgroup
- Every wall names a generator
- Five lattices, and no others
- How chiral, as a number
- How fast a group grows
- How few operations make a pattern
- How many subgroups of index three
- How much pattern is enough
- Orbifold notation, the shorter language
- Reading Hermann–Mauguin
- Seventeen dollars
- Telling two words apart
- The arrangements a crystal keeps at absolute zero
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The domains a lost translation makes, which nothing optical can see
- The eleven a diffraction pattern reports
- The four groups with a centre
- The friezes inside the seventeen
- The fundamental domain
- The groups ornament actually uses
- The map that needs no phases
- The motif must be a comma
- The orbit is the pattern
- The phase problem
- The reflections a superlattice adds
- The relations a polygon dictates
- The same group in a bigger cell
- The same group means the same pattern
- The same pattern, described twice
- The seventeen
- The solver that knows no symmetry
- The star of a wavevector
- The symmetry of an average
- The tile that needs no reflection
- Turn a lattice against itself and almost nothing lines up
- Two structures, one Patterson
- Two ways down from a group
- What a position becomes on the way down
- What a symmetry actually is
- Where the product is
- Which way the order parameter points
- Why it is a group and not a list
abelian · antiphase · cayley · colour-classes · compose · coset-table · disorder · domain-index · extension-count · folded-flat · friedel · fundamental-domain · generating-set · isomorphic-subgroup · k-star · motif-matters · normaliser · one-hand · operation · orbit-build · orbit-count · order-parameter · phase-problem · phase-relations · seventeen · superstructure · twin-diffraction · twin-plate · two-colour · wallpaper · window-size · word-form · wyckoff
p4mstrictly p4mm
8 operations modulo translations · 4-fold rotation
inside nothing on this lattice — it is maximal
Drawn in 42 essays, by 23 generators
- An order parameter is a representation
- Chiral in the plane is not chiral in the room
- Counting what a group cannot tell apart
- Crystallography in a box
- Domains of a subgroup
- Every wall names a generator
- How fast a group grows
- How many waves a group permits
- Near-symmetry, and the tolerance that is not here
- Orbifold notation, the shorter language
- p3m1 and p31m
- Reading Hermann–Mauguin
- Seventeen dollars
- Seventy-four colourings, forty-six groups
- The Alhambra question
- The cell a zone-boundary mode doubles
- The cell is a choice, the lattice is not
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The domain in reciprocal space
- The fundamental domain
- The groups a single hand may sit in
- The motif must be a comma
- The points a group treats differently
- The same group in a bigger cell
- The same group means the same pattern
- The same site under two names
- The same symmetry, somewhere else
- The seventeen
- The star of a wavevector
- The strain that arrives with the transition
- The symmetry of an average
- The walls a strain permits
- Two colours, and a symmetry that swaps them
- Two mirrors a coset cannot tell apart
- Two ways down from a group
- What a position becomes on the way down
- Where the product is
- Where two levels must meet
- Which levels join which, on the way out of a point
- Which modes a site can carry
- Which way the order parameter points
- Why it is a group and not a list
cayley · colour-classes · compose · disorder · domain-index · extension-count · folded-flat · fundamental-domain · isomorphic-subgroup · k-bands · k-star · motif-matters · normaliser · one-hand · orbit-count · order-parameter · product · seventeen · subgroup-kinds · tolerance · two-colour · wallpaper · wyckoff
p4gstrictly p4gm
8 operations modulo translations · 4-fold rotation
inside nothing on this lattice — it is maximal
Drawn in 24 essays, by 15 generators
- A glide sticks two levels together
- A group in four letters
- An order parameter is a representation
- How many waves a group permits
- How much pattern is enough
- Orbifold notation, the shorter language
- p3m1 and p31m
- Seventeen dollars
- Seventeen groups, seven vector sets
- Systematic absences
- Telling two words apart
- The Alhambra question
- The axis a product lies on
- The cell a zone-boundary mode doubles
- The cell is a choice, the lattice is not
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The reciprocal lattice
- The same group means the same pattern
- The same pattern, described twice
- The seventeen
- The two that fold into a surface
- The zones that behave as if there were a centre
- Where the product is
- Why it is a group and not a list
absences · coset-table · detour · folded-flat · fundamental-domain · k-star · motif-matters · normaliser · order-parameter · patterson-map · presentation · product · seventeen · wallpaper · window-size
hexagonal lattice 5 groups
p3strictly p311
3 operations modulo translations · 3-fold rotation
Drawn in 31 essays, by 17 generators
- A merohedral twin moves no spot at all
- A twin hides in the statistics
- A twin is a symmetry the lattice has and the crystal does not
- Every wall names a generator
- Five copies, and the gap they leave
- Five lattices, and no others
- How fast a group grows
- How few operations make a pattern
- How many waves a group permits
- p3m1 and p31m
- Quartz has exactly three twin laws, and its lattice is why
- Seventeen dollars
- Seventeen groups, seven vector sets
- The Alhambra question
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The crossing at the corner
- The groups a single hand may sit in
- The groups ornament actually uses
- The index and the angle a twin misses by
- The law that hides handedness
- The motif must be a comma
- The orbit is the pattern
- The phase problem
- The points a group treats differently
- The same group in a bigger cell
- The seventeen
- The symmetry diffraction adds
- The symmetry of an average
- Three colours, and why most patterns cannot have them
- What a position becomes on the way down
- Why it is a group and not a list
cayley · disorder · friedel · generating-set · isomorphic-subgroup · k-bands · k-star · motif-matters · patterson-map · phase-problem · presentation · seventeen · subgroup-kinds · twin-diffraction · twin-plate · wallpaper · wyckoff
p3m1
6 operations modulo translations · 3-fold rotation
insidep6m
Drawn in 22 essays, by 15 generators
- 3m1 and 31m are one class
- A group in four letters
- An orbit is what the invariants cannot tell apart
- Domains of a subgroup
- How fast a group grows
- How few operations make a pattern
- Near-symmetry, and the tolerance that is not here
- Orbifold notation, the shorter language
- p3m1 and p31m
- Reading Hermann–Mauguin
- Seventeen dollars
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The cubic term that forbids a continuous change
- The fundamental domain
- The polarisation nobody asked for
- The seventeen
- The symmetry diffraction adds
- Three of them, and they are equivalent
- What is left when the order is forgotten
- Where two levels must meet
- Which way the order parameter points
- Why it is a group and not a list
abelian · cayley · coset-table · domain-index · friedel · fundamental-domain · generating-set · k-bands · motif-matters · normaliser · order-parameter · seventeen · tolerance · wallpaper · wyckoff
p31m
6 operations modulo translations · 3-fold rotation
insidep6m
Drawn in 18 essays, by 13 generators
- 3m1 and 31m are one class
- An order parameter is a representation
- How fast a group grows
- How few operations make a pattern
- Orbifold notation, the shorter language
- p3m1 and p31m
- Seventeen dollars
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The polarisation nobody asked for
- The seventeen
- The symmetry diffraction adds
- The zones that behave as if there were a centre
- Three colours, and why most patterns cannot have them
- What a position becomes on the way down
- What is left when the order is forgotten
- Which levels join which, on the way out of a point
- Which modes a site can carry
- Why it is a group and not a list
abelian · cayley · detour · friedel · fundamental-domain · generating-set · k-bands · order-parameter · seventeen · subgroup-kinds · two-colour · wallpaper · wyckoff
p6strictly p611
6 operations modulo translations · 6-fold rotation
insidep6m
Drawn in 16 essays, by 11 generators
- How many waves a group permits
- p3m1 and p31m
- Seventeen dollars
- Telling two words apart
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The degeneracy time reversal forces
- The descent with no shortcut
- The domains a lost translation makes, which nothing optical can see
- The groups a single hand may sit in
- The primes a cell can grow by
- The same group in a bigger cell
- The same group means the same pattern
- The seventeen
- The symmetry of an average
- Two colours, and a symmetry that swaps them
- Why it is a group and not a list
colour-classes · disorder · domain-index · extension-count · isomorphic-subgroup · k-star · one-hand · seventeen · two-colour · wallpaper · word-form
p6mstrictly p6mm
12 operations modulo translations · 6-fold rotation
inside nothing on this lattice — it is maximal
Drawn in 33 essays, by 17 generators
- A group in four letters
- An order parameter is a representation
- Counting what a group cannot tell apart
- Domains of a subgroup
- How fast a group grows
- How many waves a group permits
- Orbifold notation, the shorter language
- p3m1 and p31m
- Seventeen dollars
- Telling two words apart
- The Alhambra question
- The classification proof, one branch at a time
- The crossing at the corner
- The cubic term that forbids a continuous change
- The descent with no shortcut
- The domain in reciprocal space
- The fundamental domain
- The motif must be a comma
- The orbit is the pattern
- The points a group treats differently
- The primes a cell can grow by
- The relations a polygon dictates
- The same symmetry, somewhere else
- The seventeen
- The star of a wavevector
- The symmetry of an average
- The walls a strain permits
- What a position becomes on the way down
- Where the product is
- Where two levels must meet
- Which modes a site can carry
- Which way the order parameter points
- Why it is a group and not a list
cayley · coset-table · disorder · domain-index · fundamental-domain · isomorphic-subgroup · k-bands · k-star · motif-matters · orbit-count · order-parameter · product · seventeen · subgroup-chain · wallpaper · word-form · wyckoff
The seven friezes
The same classification with one translation direction instead of two, where the argument is short enough to check by hand.
A frieze symbol has three positions rather than two and drops nothing: a strip's two
directions — across it and along it — are never interchangeable, so p1m1 keeps
the trailing 1 that p4mm is allowed to lose.
p1
no rotation · nothing across it · nothing along it
p11g
no rotation · nothing across it · a glide along it
p1m1
no rotation · a mirror across the strip · nothing along it
p2
half turns · nothing across it · nothing along it
p2mg
half turns · a mirror across the strip · a glide along it
p11m
no rotation · nothing across it · a mirror along it
p2mm
half turns · a mirror across the strip · a mirror along it
How to read the symbols · All ladders · All seventeen on one plate · The figure library