Intrinsically anomalous self-similarity of randomly folded matter

Abstract

We found that randomly folded thin sheets exhibit unconventional scale invariance, which we termed as an intrinsically anomalous self-similarity, because the self-similarity of the folded configurations and of the set of folded sheets are characterized by different fractal dimensions. Besides, we found that self-avoidance does not affect the scaling properties of folded patterns, because the self-intersections of sheets with finite bending rigidity are restricted by the finite size of crumpling creases, rather than by the condition of self-avoidance. Accordingly, the local fractal dimension of folding structures is found to be universal (Dl=2.64+/-0.05) and close to expected for a randomly folded phantom sheet with finite bending rigidity. At the same time, self-avoidance is found to play an important role in the scaling properties of the set of randomly folded sheets of different sizes, characterized by the material-dependent global fractal dimension D<Dl. So intrinsically anomalous self-similarity is expected to be an essential feature of randomly folded thin matter.