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.

Let $G$ be a locally compact group and $\pi$ a representation of $G$ by weakly$^*$ continuous isometries acting in a dual Banach space $E$. Given a probability measure $\mu$ on $G$, we study the Choquet--Deny equation $\pi(\mu)x=x$, $x\in E$. We prove that the solutions of this equation form the range of a projection of norm $1$ and can be represented by means of a ``Poisson formula'' on the same boundary space that is used to represent the bounded harmonic functions of the random walk of law $\mu$. The relation between the space of solutions of the Choquet--Deny equation in $E$ and the space of bounded harmonic functions can be understood in terms of a construction resembling the $W^*$-crossed product and coinciding precisely with the crossed product in the special case of the Choquet--Deny equation in the space $E=B(L^2(G))$ of bounded linear operators on $L^2(G)$. Other general properties of the Choquet--Deny equation in a Banach space are also discussed.