The Hausdorff dimension of sections (Q2641583)

Taking an iterated function system of contractive similitudes on \(\mathbb{R}^n\) with the same contraction factor and the resultant compact attracting set \(E\) the author considers questions of Hausdorff dimension of sections where a ``section'' is defined as the intersection of \(E\) with a \((n-1)\)-dimensional hyperplane \(L\). The author's results hold for sections satisfying the so-called finite type open set condition (FOSC). This is an extension of the usual open set condition common in the theory of iterated function systems to sections. The main result of the paper is to give a precise formula for the Hausdorff dimension of the section \(E\cap{}L\) in terms of the contraction factor \(\rho\) and the spectral radius of the transition matrix arising from the FOSC. The proof of this result is the main part of the paper and relies on a graph-directed construction to find a lower bound for the dimension of \(E\cap L\). The paper concludes with a number of detailed examples of the theory in practice. These include calculating the dimension of the intersection of various common fractals such as the Sierpinski carpet and the Koch curve with lines having rational gradient.