Decagonal (Al-Ni-Co)

Tenfold diffraction symmetry, Golden Mean scaling
quasicrystaldim 2D with 10-fold1 metrics

What It Measures

Does the signal show Golden Mean scaling at the squared level — the signature of decagonal quasicrystals?

Tests spectral self-similarity at the golden-ratio-squared (phi^2 = 2.618...) rather than the golden ratio itself. Decagonal quasicrystals (like Al-Ni-Co alloys) have 10-fold rotational symmetry. They are periodic along one axis and aperiodic in the perpendicular plane, creating columnar structures. The phi^2 test separates genuine decagonal order from the simpler fivefold Penrose structure.

Metrics

phi_squared_ratio

Spectral self-similarity under phi^2 scaling. Circle Map QP, Phyllotaxis, and Fibonacci QC all score 1.0 — exactly the same three sources that max out Penrose's fivefold_symmetry. This is mathematically inevitable: if the spectrum is self-similar at ratio phi, it's automatically self-similar at phi^2 (two applications of the same scaling). Henon Map, Lorenz, and Divisor Count score 0.0 — no golden-ratio structure at any power.

Atlas Rankings

phi_squared_ratio
SourceDomainValue
Circle Map Quasiperiodicchaos1.0000
Phyllotaxisbio1.0000
Fibonacci Quasicrystalnumber_theory1.0000
···
Henon Mapchaos0.0000
Lorenz Attractorchaos0.0000
Divisor Countnumber_theory0.0000

When It Lights Up

Decagonal's perfect overlap with Penrose on the top-scoring sources reveals an important structural fact: no source in the atlas has phi^2 symmetry without also having phi symmetry. In real materials, decagonal quasicrystals differ from Penrose tilings because of the additional periodicity along the third axis — a distinction that cannot manifest in 1D data. Decagonal is most useful as a consistency check: if a signal scores high on Penrose fivefold_symmetry but zero on Decagonal phi_squared_ratio, that would indicate partial golden-ratio structure (perhaps phi-scaled spacing without phi^2 scaling), which would be a novel finding. No such case exists in the current atlas.

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