Characterizing the lacunarity of random and deterministic fractal sets

The notion of lacunarity makes it possible to distinguish sets that have the same fractal dimension but different textures. In this paper we define the lacunarity of a set from the fluctuations of the mass distribution function, which is found using an algorithm we call the gliding-box method. We apply this definition to characterize the geometry of random and deterministic fractal sets. In the case of self-similar sets, lacunarity follows particular scaling properties that are established and discussed in relation to other geometrical analyses.