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A Universal Scaling Law for the Fractal Energy Dissipation Domain in Self-Organized Criticality Systems

Nonlinear dissipative systems in the state of self-organized criticality release energy sporadically in avalanches of all sizes, such as in earthquakes, auroral substorms, solar and stellar flares, soft gamma-ray repeaters, and pulsar glitches. The statistical occurrence frequency distributions of event energies $E$ generally exhibit a powerlaw-like function $N(E)\propto E^{-α_E}$ with a powerlaw slope of $α_E \approx 1.5$. The powerlaw slope $α_E$ of energies can be related to the fractal dimension $D$ of the spatial energy dissipation domain by $D=3/α_E$, which predicts a powerlaw slope $α_E=1.5$ for area-rupturing or area-spreading processes with $D=2$. For solar and stellar flares, 2-D area-spreading dissipation domains are naturally provided in current sheets or separatrix surfaces in a magnetic reconnection region. Thus, this universal scaling law provides a useful new diagnostic on the topology of the spatial energy dissipation domain in geophysical and astrophysical observations.