STRUCTURAL 5-FOLD SYMMETRY IN THE FRACTAL MORPHOLOGY OF DIFFUSION-LIMITED AGGREGATES

The statistical self-similarity of the geometry of diffusion-limited aggregates and the multifractal nature of the growth probability distribution on the surface of the growing clusters are investigated using the wavelet transform. This study reveals the existence of a predominant structural five-fold symmetry in the internal frozen region as well as in the active outer region of the interface. This observation is corroborated by a statistical analysis of the screening effects that govern diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) growth in linear and sector-shaped cells. The existence of this symmetry is likely to be a clue to a hierarchical fractal ordering. We report on the discovery of Fibonacci sequences in the inner extinct region of large mass off-lattice DLA clusters, with a branching ratio which converges asymptotically to the golden mean. We suggest an interpretation of the DLA morphology as a "quasifractal" counterpart of the well-ordered snowflake fractal architecture.