A fractal drum is a bounded open subset of R. m with a fractal boundary. A difficult problem is to describe the relationship between the shape (geo- metry) of the drum and its sound (its spectrum). In this book, we restrict ourselves to the one-dimensional case of fractal strings, and their higher dimensional analogues, fractal sprays. We develop a theory of complex di- mensions of a fractal string, and we study how these complex dimensions relate the geometry with the spectrum of the fractal string. We refer the reader to [Berrl-2, Lapl-4, LapPol-3, LapMal-2, HeLapl-2] and the ref- erences therein for further physical and mathematical motivations of this work. (Also see, in particular, Sections 7. 1, 10. 3 and 10. 4, along with Ap- pendix B. ) In Chapter 1, we introduce the basic object of our research, fractal strings (see [Lapl-3, LapPol-3, LapMal-2, HeLapl-2]). A 'standard fractal string' is a bounded open subset of the real line. Such a set is a disjoint union of open intervals, the lengths of which form a sequence which we assume to be infinite. Important information about the geometry of . c is contained in its geometric zeta function (c(8) = L lj. j=l 2 Introduction We assume throughout that this function has a suitable meromorphic ex- tension. The central notion of this book, the complex dimensions of a fractal string . c, is defined as the poles of the meromorphic extension of (c.

Book Information
ISBN 9780817640989
Author Michel L. Lapidus
Format Hardback
Page Count 268
Imprint Birkhauser Boston Inc
Publisher Birkhauser Boston Inc
Weight(grams) 1270g