We set up a framework for computing the spectral dimension of a class of one-dimensional self-similar measures that are defined by iterated function systems with overlaps and satisfy a family of second-order self-similar identities. As applications of our result we obtain the spectral dimension of important measures such as the infinite Bernoulli convolution associated with the golden ratio and convolutions of Cantor-type measures. The main novelty of our result is that the iterated function systems we consider are not post-critically finite and do not satisfy the well-known open set condition.

We consider a class of fractal subsets of $\R^d$ formed in a manner analogous to the construction of the Sierpinski carpet. We prove a uniform Harnack inequality for positive harmonic functions; study the heat equation, and obtain upper and lower bounds on the heat kernel which are, up to constants, the best possible; construct a locally isotropic diffusion $X$ and determine its basic properties; and extend some classical Sobolev and Poincar\'e inequalities to this setting.