The eigenvalue problem for linear and affine iterated function systems (Q716425)

The eigenvalue problem for a linear function \(L\) centers on solving the eigen-equation \(Lx=\lambda x\). The authors generalize the eigenvalue problem from a single linear function to an iterated function system \(F\) consisting of possibly an infinite number of linear or affine functions. The eigen-equation becomes \(F(X)=\lambda X\), where \(\lambda >0\) is real, \(X\) is a compact set, and \(F(X)=\cup_{f\in F}f(X)\). The main result of this paper is that an irreducible, linear iterated function system \(F\) has a unique eigenvalue \(\lambda \) equal to the joint spectral radius of the functions in \(F\) and a corresponding eigenset \(S\) that is centrally symmetric, star-shaped, and full dimensional. Results of Barabanov and of Dranisnikov-Konyagin-Protasov on the joint spectral radius follow as corollaries.