Effective degrees of freedom of a random walk on a fractal

Nanoscale Disorder Generates Subdiffusive Heat Transport in Self-Assembled Nanocrystal Films

Investigating the impact of nanoscale heterogeneity on heat transport requires a spatiotemporal probe of temperature on the length and time scales intrinsic to heat navigating nanoscale defects. Here, we use stroboscopic optical scattering microscopy to visualize nanoscale heat transport in disordered films of gold nanocrystals. We find that heat transport appears subdiffusive at the nanoscale. Finite element simulations show that tortuosity of the heat flow underlies the subdiffusive transport, owing to a distribution of nonconductive voids. Thus, while heat travels diffusively through contiguous regions of the film, the tortuosity causes heat to navigate circuitous pathways that make the observed mean-squared expansion of an initially localized temperature distribution appear subdiffusive on length scales comparable to the voids. Our approach should be broadly applicable to uncover the impact of both designed and unintended heterogeneities in a wide range of materials and devices that can affect more commonly used spatially averaged thermal transport measurements.

Random Variables and Stable Distributions on Fractal Cantor Sets

In this paper, we introduce the concept of fractal random variables and their related distribution functions and statistical properties. Fractal calculus is a generalisation of standard calculus which includes function with fractal support. Here we combine this emerging field of study with probability theory, defining concepts such as Shannon entropy on fractal thin Cantor-like sets. Stable distributions on fractal sets are suggested and related physical models are presented. Our work is illustrated with graphs for clarity of the results.

Diffusion on Middle-ξ Cantor Sets

In this paper, we study Cζ-calculus on generalized Cantor sets, which have self-similar properties and fractional dimensions that exceed their topological dimensions. Functions with fractal support are not differentiable or integrable in terms of standard calculus, so we must involve local fractional derivatives. We have generalized the Cζ-calculus on the generalized Cantor sets known as middle-ξ Cantor sets. We have suggested a calculus on the middle-ξ Cantor sets for different values of ξ with 0<ξ<1. Differential equations on the middle-ξ Cantor sets have been solved, and we have presented the results using illustrative examples. The conditions for super-, normal, and sub-diffusion on fractal sets are given.

Scaling relations in the diffusive infiltration in fractals

In a recent work on fluid infiltration in a Hele-Shaw cell with the pore-block geometry of Sierpinski carpets (SCs), the area filled by the invading fluid was shown to scale as F∼t^{n}, with n<1/2, thus providing a macroscopic realization of anomalous diffusion [Filipovitch et al., Water Resour. Res. 52, 5167 (2016)WRERAQ0043-139710.1002/2016WR018667]. The results agree with simulations of a diffusion equation with constant pressure at one of the borders of those fractals, but the exponent n is very different from the anomalous exponent ν=1/D_{W} of single-particle diffusion in the same fractals (D_{W} is the random-walk dimension). Here we use a scaling approach to show that those exponents are related as n=ν(D_{F}-D_{B}), where D_{F} and D_{B} are the fractal dimensions of the bulk and the border from which diffusing particles come, respectively. This relation is supported by accurate numerical estimates in two SCs and in two generalized Menger sponges (MSs), in which we performed simulations of single-particle random walks (RWs) with a rigid impermeable border and of a diffusive infiltration model in which that border is permanently filled with diffusing particles. This study includes one MS whose external border is also fractal. The exponent relation is also consistent with the recent simulational and experimental results on fluid infiltration in SCs, and explains the approximate quadratic dependence of n on D_{F} in these fractals. We also show that the mean-square displacement of single-particle RWs has log-periodic oscillations, whose periods are similar for fractals with the same scaling factor in the generator (even with different embedding dimensions), which is consistent with the discrete scale invariance scenario. The roughness of a diffusion front defined in the infiltration problem also shows this type of oscillation, which is enhanced in fractals with narrow channels between large lacunas.