Threshold state of the abelian sandpile

Threshold state of the abelian sandpile

Probability Seminar
Nov 16, 2016, 03:10 PM - 04:00 PM | 1011 Evans Hall | Happening As Scheduled
Lionel Levine, Cornell University
A sandpile on a graph is an integer-valued function on the vertices. It evolves according to local moves called topplings. Some sandpiles stabilize after a finite number of topplings, while others (if there is no way for sand to exit the system) topple forever. For any sandpile s_0 if we repeatedly add a grain of sand at an independent random vertex, we eventually reach a "threshold state''...