Strict Self-Assembly of Discrete Self-Similar Fractal Shapes

This paper gives a (polynomial time) algorithm to decide whether a given Discrete Self-Similar Fractal Shape can be assembled in the aTAM model.In the positive case, the construction relies on a Self-Assembling System in the aTAM which strictly assembles a particular self-similar fractal shape, namely a variant K^∞ of the Sierpinski Carpet. We prove that the aTAM we propose is correct through a novel device, self-describing circuits which are generally useful for rigorous yet readable proofs of the behaviour of aTAMs.We then discuss which self-similar fractals can or cannot be strictly self-assembled in the aTAM. It turns out that the ability of iterates of the generator to pass information is crucial: either this bandwidth is eventually sufficient in both cardinal directions and K^∞ appears within the fractal pattern after some finite number of iterations, or that bandwidth remains ever insufficient in one direction and any aTAM trying to self-assemble the shape will end up either bounded with an ultimately periodic pattern covering arbitrarily large squares. This is established thanks to a new characterization of the productions of systems whose productions have a uniformly bounded treewidth.