We construct self-similar functions and linear operators to deduce a self-similar variant of the Laplacian operator and of the D'Alembertian wave operator. The exigence of self-similarity as a symmetry property requires the introduction of non-local particle-particle interactions. We derive a self-similar linear wave operator describing the dynamics of a quasi-continuous linear chain of infinite length with a spatially self-similar distribution of nonlocal inter-particle springs. The self-similarity of the nonlocal harmonic particle-particle interactions results in a dispersion relation of the form of a Weierstrass-Mandelbrot function which exhibits self-similar and fractal features. We also derive a continuum approximation which relates the self-similar Laplacian to fractional integrals and yields in the low-frequency regime a power law frequency-dependence of the oscillator density.

We analyse some fundamental problems of linear elasticity in one-dimensional (1D) continua where the material points of the medium interact in a self-similar manner. This continuum with ‘self-similar’ elastic properties is obtained as the continuum limit of a linear chain with self-similar harmonic interactions (harmonic springs) which was introduced in [19] and (Michelitsch T.M. (2011) The self-similar field and its application to a diffusion problem. J. Phys. A Math. Theor.44, 465206). We deduce a continuous field approach where the self-similar elasticity is reflected by self-similar Laplacian-generating equations of motion which are spatially non-local convolutions with power-function kernels (fractional integrals). We obtain closed-form expressions for the static displacement Green's function due to a unit δ-force. In the dynamic framework we derive the solution of the Cauchy problem and the retarded Green's function. We deduce the distributions of a self-similar variant of diffusion problem with Lévi-stable distributions as solutions with infinite mean fluctuations. In both dynamic cases we obtain a hierarchy of solutions for the self-similar Poisson's equation, which we call ‘self-similar potentials’. These non-local singular potentials are in a sense self-similar analogues to Newtonian potentials and to the 1D Dirac's δ-function. The approach can be a point of departure for a theory of self-similar elasticity in 2D and 3D and for other field theories (e.g. in electrodynamics) of systems with scale invariant interactions.

We demonstrate that the fractional Laplacian (FL) is the principal characteristic operator of harmonic systems with self-similar interparticle interactions. We show that the FL represents the "fractional continuum limit" of a discrete "self-similar Laplacian" which is obtained by Hamilton's variational principle from a discrete spring model. We deduce from generalized self-similar elastic potentials regular representations for the FL which involve convolutions of symmetric finite difference operators of even orders extending the standard representation of the FL. Further we deduce a regularized representation for the FL −(−∆) α 2 holding for α ∈ R ≥ 0. We give an explicit proof that the regularized representation of the FL gives for integer powers α 2 ∈ N 0 a distributional representation of the standard Laplacian operator ∆ including the trivial unity operator for α → 0. We demonstrate that self-similar harmonic systems are all governed in a distributional sense by this regularized representation of the FL which therefore can be conceived as characteristic footprint of self-similarity.

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