Symmetry and Stability of Icosahedral and Other Quasicrystalline Phases

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Abstract
The stability of icosahedral, pentagonal, and other quasicrystalline phases to deformations which make them commensurate, and thus periodic, in one or more directions is analyzed. Although such deformations may be arbitrarily small, it is shown that quasicrystals are generically stable to them. Quasicrystals may therefore exist as thermodynamically stable phases. The possible symmetries which may arise in icosahedral structures when these deformations do take place are considered.