Temperature

Overview

Commonly, the temperature \(\tau\) of a tile assembly system specifies the minimum strength with which glues must bind. For example, if in a tile assembly system \(\tau = 2\), then only tiles which have glues of strength \(2\) or greater on their adjacent edges may bind. While this is certainly true for the Abstract Tile Assembly Model (aTAM), Two-Handed Assembly Model (2HAM) and their derivatives, it certainly is not always the case. Consider the Kinetic Tile Assembly Model (kTAM). In this model errors are allowed to happen so that tiles bind with less than \(\tau\) strength.