Curvature measures and fractals

Steffen Winter

  • 2008

Abstract

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Curvature measures are an important tool in geometric measure theory and other fields of mathematics for describing the geometry of sets in Euclidean space. But the ’classical’ concepts of curvature are not directly applicable to fractal sets. We try to bridge this gap between geometric measure theory and fractal geometry by introducing a notion of curvature for fractals. For compact sets F d (e.g. fractals), for which classical geometric characteristics such as curvatures or Euler characteristic are not available, we study these notions for their ε-parallel sets F ε : = x d : i n f y F | | x - y | | ε instead, expecting that their limiting behaviour as ε → 0 provides information about the structure of the initial set F. In particular, we investigate the limiting behaviour of the total curvatures (or intrinsic volumes) C k ( F ε ) , k = 0,...,d, as well as weak limits of the corresponding curvature measures C k ( F ε , · ) as ε → 0. This leads to the notions of fractal curvature and fractal curvature measure, respectively. The well known Minkowski content appears in this context as one of the fractal curvatures. For certain classes of self-similar sets, results on the existence of (averaged) fractal curvatures are presented. These limits can be calculated explicitly and are in a certain sense ’invariants’ of the sets, which may help to distinguish and classify fractals. Based on these results also the fractal curvature measures of these sets are characterized. As a special case and a significant refinement of known results, a local characterization of the Minkowski content is given.

How to cite

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Steffen Winter. Curvature measures and fractals. 2008. <http://eudml.org/doc/285967>.

@book{SteffenWinter2008,
abstract = {Curvature measures are an important tool in geometric measure theory and other fields of mathematics for describing the geometry of sets in Euclidean space. But the ’classical’ concepts of curvature are not directly applicable to fractal sets. We try to bridge this gap between geometric measure theory and fractal geometry by introducing a notion of curvature for fractals. For compact sets $F⊆ ℝ^\{d\}$ (e.g. fractals), for which classical geometric characteristics such as curvatures or Euler characteristic are not available, we study these notions for their ε-parallel sets $F_\{ε\} := \{x ∈ ℝ^\{d\} : inf_\{y∈ F\} ||x-y|| ≤ ε\}$ instead, expecting that their limiting behaviour as ε → 0 provides information about the structure of the initial set F. In particular, we investigate the limiting behaviour of the total curvatures (or intrinsic volumes) $C_\{k\}(F_\{ε\})$, k = 0,...,d, as well as weak limits of the corresponding curvature measures $C_\{k\}(F_\{ε\},·)$ as ε → 0. This leads to the notions of fractal curvature and fractal curvature measure, respectively. The well known Minkowski content appears in this context as one of the fractal curvatures. For certain classes of self-similar sets, results on the existence of (averaged) fractal curvatures are presented. These limits can be calculated explicitly and are in a certain sense ’invariants’ of the sets, which may help to distinguish and classify fractals. Based on these results also the fractal curvature measures of these sets are characterized. As a special case and a significant refinement of known results, a local characterization of the Minkowski content is given.},
author = {Steffen Winter},
keywords = {curvature measure; parallel set; convex ring; fractal; self-similar set; Euler characteristic; renewal theorem; dimension; Minkowski content},
language = {eng},
title = {Curvature measures and fractals},
url = {http://eudml.org/doc/285967},
year = {2008},
}

TY - BOOK
AU - Steffen Winter
TI - Curvature measures and fractals
PY - 2008
AB - Curvature measures are an important tool in geometric measure theory and other fields of mathematics for describing the geometry of sets in Euclidean space. But the ’classical’ concepts of curvature are not directly applicable to fractal sets. We try to bridge this gap between geometric measure theory and fractal geometry by introducing a notion of curvature for fractals. For compact sets $F⊆ ℝ^{d}$ (e.g. fractals), for which classical geometric characteristics such as curvatures or Euler characteristic are not available, we study these notions for their ε-parallel sets $F_{ε} := {x ∈ ℝ^{d} : inf_{y∈ F} ||x-y|| ≤ ε}$ instead, expecting that their limiting behaviour as ε → 0 provides information about the structure of the initial set F. In particular, we investigate the limiting behaviour of the total curvatures (or intrinsic volumes) $C_{k}(F_{ε})$, k = 0,...,d, as well as weak limits of the corresponding curvature measures $C_{k}(F_{ε},·)$ as ε → 0. This leads to the notions of fractal curvature and fractal curvature measure, respectively. The well known Minkowski content appears in this context as one of the fractal curvatures. For certain classes of self-similar sets, results on the existence of (averaged) fractal curvatures are presented. These limits can be calculated explicitly and are in a certain sense ’invariants’ of the sets, which may help to distinguish and classify fractals. Based on these results also the fractal curvature measures of these sets are characterized. As a special case and a significant refinement of known results, a local characterization of the Minkowski content is given.
LA - eng
KW - curvature measure; parallel set; convex ring; fractal; self-similar set; Euler characteristic; renewal theorem; dimension; Minkowski content
UR - http://eudml.org/doc/285967
ER -

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