Detecting self-similarity in surface microstructures

The relative configurational entropy per cell as a function of length scale is a sensitive detector of spatial selfsimilarity. For Sierpinski carpets the equally separated peaks of the above function appear at the length scal es that depend on the kind of the carpet. These peaks point to the presence of self-similarity even for randomly perturbed initial fractal sets. This is also demonstrated for the model population of particles diffusing over t he surface considered by Van Siclen (Phys. Rev. E 56 (1997) 5211). These re sults allow the subtle self-similarity traces to be explored. (C) 2000 Else vier Science B.V. All rights reserved.