Random domino tilings and the arctic circle theorem

Abstract

In this article, we study domino tilings of a family of finite regions, called Aztec diamonds. Every such tiling determines a partition of the Aztec diamond into five sub-regions; in the four outer sub-regions, every tile lines up with nearby tiles, while in the fifth, central sub-region, differently oriented tiles co-exist side by side. We show that when $n$ is sufficiently large, the shape of the central sub-region becomes arbitrarily close to a perfect circle of radius $n/\sqrt{2}$ for all but a negligible proportion of the tilings. Our proof uses techniques from the theory of interacting particle systems. In particular, we prove and make use of a classification of the stationary behaviors of a totally asymmetric one-dimensional exclusion process in discrete time.