Affine systems: asymptotics at infinity for fractal measures (Q2385163)

The paper studies measures on \(\mathbb R^{d}\) which are induced by a class of infinite and recursive iterations in symbolic dynamics. Beginning with a finite set of data, the authors analyze prescribed recursive iteration systems, each involving subdivisions. Passing to the limit, they arrive at certain measures \(\mu\) which capture intriguing dynamical information such as spectral type, and the presence of ``chaos''. The studied initial data may be a prescribed finite set of affine mappings in \({\mathbb R}^d\) (affine iterated function systems -- the focus of the paper), a rational function in one complex variable (Julia sets and equilibrium measures), or an infinite positive definite matrix (determinantal measures). By a systematic analysis of the Fourier transform of the measure \(\mu\) at hand (frequency domain), the paper identifies asymptotic laws, spectral types, dichotomy, and chaos laws. Two of several interesting limits associated with a finite set \(S\) of affine and contractive mappings \(\tau_i: {\mathbb R}^{d}\rightarrow {\mathbb R}^{d}\) are investigated. The first is an attractor \(X(S),\) a compact subset of \(\mathbb R^{d}\) which arises from recursive iterations of the maps in \(S.\) Second, given a set of positive probabilities \(p=\{p_i\}\) associated with the maps \(\tau_i\) in \(S,\) there is a unique measure supported on \(X(S)\) called the Hutchinson or equilibrium measure. Besides this measure, the paper studies its generalizations induced by determinantal measures on infinite product spaces. In particular it is shown that the cases when the measure \(\mu\) is singular carry a gradation, ranging from Cantor-like fractal measures to measures exhibiting chaos, i.e., a situation when small changes in the initial data produce large fluctuations in the outcome, or rather, the iteration limit (in this case the measures). The presented method depends on asymptotic estimates on the Fourier transform of \(\mu\) for paths at infinity in \(\mathbb R^{d}\). It is shown how properties of \(\mu\) depend on perturbations of the initial data, e.g., variations in a prescribed finite set of affine mappings in \(\mathbb R^{d}\), in parameters of a rational function in one complex variable (Julia sets and equilibrium measures), or in the entries of a given infinite positive definite matrix.