Fractal Dimension

Introduction

A fractal dimension is a statistical quantity that describes how a fractal appears to fill space. A fractal is an object that displays a property known as self-similarity, i.e. a geometric shape that can be reduced to smaller parts, with each smaller part being a reduced copy of the whole. There are several specific definitions of fractal dimensions, but the most important ones include Renyi dimensions and Haussdorf dimensions.

Examples of fractals

There are many examples of fractals in nature. A koch snowflake is an idealization (and a good one) of an actual snowflake.

A non-exhaustive list of fractals and their fractal dimension can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fractals_by_Hausdorff_dimension

Keyword in references:

G. Lois, J. Blawzdziewicz, and C. S. O'Hern, "Protein folding on rugged energy landscapes: Conformational diffusion on fractal networks", Phys. Rev. E 81 (2010) 051907