# Phasonic Diffusion and Self-confinement of Decagonal Quasicrystals in Hyperspace

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a simulation method to study phasonic fluctuations in decagonal quasicrystals, revealing dominant diffusive transport, cooperative flip behavior, and self-confinement effects in hyperspace.

## Contribution

It presents a new Monte Carlo simulation approach focusing on phasonic flips, providing insights into equilibrium states and transport mechanisms in decagonal quasicrystals.

## Key findings

- Random tiling ensemble is preferred over minimal strain quasicrystal at all temperatures.
- Phasonic flips dominate diffusive mass transport in physical space.
- Particle mobility in complementary space is confined, leading to self-confinement and persistent order.

## Abstract

We introduce a novel simulation method that is designed to explore fluctuations of the phasonic degrees of freedom in decagonal colloidal quasicrystals. Specifically, we attain and characterise thermal equilibrium of the phason ensemble via Monte Carlo simulations with particle motions restricted to elementary phasonic flips. We find that, at any temperature, the random tiling ensemble is strongly preferred over the minimum phason-strain quasicrystal. Phasonic flips are the dominant carriers of diffusive mass transport in physical space. Sub-diffusive transients suggest cooperative flip behaviour on short time scales. In complementary space, particle mobility is geometrically restricted to a thin ring around the acceptance domain, resulting in self-confinement and persistent phasonic order.