Curves of infinite length in \(4 \times 4\)-labyrinth fractals (Q833329)

The authors study \(m\times m\)-labyrinth fractals which are dendrites, such that between any two points there is a unique arc in the labyrinth fractal. The main results in this interesting paper deal with the case \(m=4\), but first the general case \(m\in\mathbb{N}\) is considered, concerning the length of such an arc and its box counting dimension. The labyrinth fractals can be obtained by some Moran construction (cf. [\textit{P. A. P. Moran}, Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 42, 15--23 (1946; Zbl 0063.04088); \textit{Y. Pesin} and \textit{H. Weiss}, Commun. Math. Phys. 182, No.~1, 105--153 (1996; Zbl 0878.28006); J. Stat. Phys. 86, No.~1--2, 233--275 (1997; Zbl 0985.37040)], but the authors first describe their own construction which is better adapted to their needs. They also refer to some recent paper of the first author [Topology Appl. 155, No.~16, 1808--1819 (2008; Zbl 1154.54307)]. As illustrated by many pictures in the paper, the tricky play concerns the location of the white and black squares in the labyrinth. For that reason, they require first three properties on the graph of the white squares and corresponding exits. In this general framework, they can prove that the limit set \(L_\infty\) of the white squares of order 1 is a dendrite. Moreover, if there is an arc between the top and bottom exit in \(L_\infty\) (or other pairs of exits), then its box counting dimension can be calculated precisely. Afterwards, in Sections~5 and 6, the authors concentrate on the special case \(m=4\) and introduce the concept of horizontally or vertically blocked \(4\times 4\) labyrinth sets. Then between any two points in \(L_\infty\) there exists an arc \(a\subset L_\infty\), having infinite length and with the additional property that the set of points where no tangent exists is dense in \(a\). Moreover, the authors conjecture that in this situation there exists no tangent to \(a\) at any point of \(a\). Finally, they relax the previously studied situation inasmuch as the fractals are only assumed to be horizontally blocked, but not vertically. They review what has been proved before and discuss similarities as well as distinctions.