A self-organized criticality (SOC) system is driven and maintained by repeatedly adding energy at random, and by dissipating energy in a specified way. The dissipating way is seldom considered, yet it plays an important role in the source of a SOC. Here, we use sandpile models as an example to point out the effects of dissipation on a SOC. First, we study the dissipation through a losing probability $f$ during each toppling process. In such a dissipative system, we find the SOC behavior is broken when $f > 0.1$ and that it is not evident for $0.1>f>0.01$. Numerical simulations of the toppling size exponents for all ($ au_a$), dissipative ($ au_d$), and last ($ au_l$) waves have been investigated for $f le 0.01$. We find that $ au_a=1$ is independent of $f$ and identical to the original sandpile model which dissipates energy at the boundary. However, the values of $ au_d$ and $ au_l$ do indeed depend on $f$. Furthermore, we derive analytic expressions of the exponents of $ au_d$ and $ au_l$, and conjecture $ au_l + au_d = frac{11}{8}$ and the exponent of the dissipative last waves $ au_{ld}=frac{3}{8}$. All of them are well consistent with the numerical study. We conclude that dissipation drives a system from being a non-SOC to a SOC. However, these SOC universality classes consist of three kinds of exponents: overall ($ au_a$), local ($ au_{ld}$), and detailed ($ au_d$ and $ au_l$).

The abelian sandpile model, or chip firing game, is a cellular automaton on finite directed graphs often used to describe the phenomenon of self organized criticality. Here we present a thorough introduction to the theory of sandpiles. Additionally, we define a symmetric sandpile configuration, and show that such configurations form a subgroup of the sandpile group. Given a graph, we explore the existence of a quotient graph whose sandpile group is isomorphic to the symmetric subgroup of the original graph. These explorations are motivated by possible applications to counting the domino tilings of a 2n × 2n grid.

Supersymmetry is a theoretical model of particle physics that posits a symmetry between bosons and fermions. Supersymmetry proposes the existence of particles that we have not yet observed and through them, offers a more unified view of the universe. In the same way Feynman Diagrams represent Feynman Integrals describing subatomic particle behaviour, supersymmetry algebras can be represented by graphs called adinkras. In addition to being motivated by physics, these graphs are highly structured and mathematically interesting. No one has looked at the Jacobians of these graphs before, so we attempt to characterize them in this thesis. We compute Jacobians through the 11-cube, but do not discover any significant discernible patterns. We then dedicate the rest of our work to generalizing the notion of the Jacobian, specifically to be sensitive to edge directions. We conclude with a conjecture describing the form of the directed Jacobian of the directed $n$-topology. We hope for this work to be useful for theoretical particle physics and for graph theory in general.

The focus of this thesis is to investigate the impact of the boundary conditions on configurations in the Abelian sandpile model. We have two main results to present in this thesis. Firstly we give a family of continuous, measure preserving, almost one-to-one mappings from the wired spanning forest to recurrent sandpiles. In the special case of $Z^d$, $d \geq 2$, we show how these bijections yield a power law upper bound on the rate of convergence to the sandpile measure along any exhaustion of $Z^d$. Secondly we consider the Abelian sandpile on ladder graphs. For the ladder sandpile measure, $\nu$, a recurrent configuration on the boundary, I, and a cylinder event, E, we provide an upper bound for $\nu(E|I) − \nu(E)$.

No description available.

This thesis consists of three papers, all treating various aspects of the operation partial balayage from potential theory. The first paper concerns the equilibrium measure in the setting of two dimensional weighted potential theory, an important measure arising in various mathematical areas, e.g. random matrix theory and the theory of orthogonal polynomials. In this paper we show that the equilibrium measure satisfies a complementary relation with a partial balayage measure if the weight function is of a certain type. The second paper treats the connection between partial balayage measures and measures arising from scaling limits of a generalisation of the so-called divisible sandpile model on lattices. The standard divisible sandpile can, in a natural way, be considered a discrete version of the partial balayage operation with respect to the Lebesgue measure. The generalisation that is developed in this paper is essentially a discrete version of the partial balayage operation with respect to more general measures than the Lebesgue measure. In the third paper we develop a version of partial balayage on Riemannian manifolds, using the theory of currents. Several known properties of partial balayage measures are shown to have corresponding results in the Riemannian manifold setting, one of which being the main result of the first paper. Moreover, we utilize the developed framework to show that for manifolds of dimension two, harmonic and geodesic balls are locally equivalent if and only if the manifold locally has constant curvature. / Denna avhandling består av tre artiklar som alla behandlar olika aspekter av den potentialteoretiska operationen partiell balayage. Den första artikeln betraktar jämviktsmåttet i tvådimensionell viktad potentialteori, ett viktigt mått inom flertalet matematiska inriktningar såsom slumpmatristeori och teorin om ortogonalpolynom. I denna artikel visas att jämviktsmåttet uppfyller en komplementaritetsrelation med ett partiell balayage-mått om viktfunktionen är av en viss typ. Den andra artikeln behandlar relationen mellan partiell balayage-mått och mått som uppstår från skalningsgränser av en generalisering av den så kallade "delbara sandhögen", en diskret modell för partikelaggregation på gitter. Den vanliga delbara sandhögen kan på ett naturligt sätt betraktas som en diskret version av partiell balayage-operatorn med avseende på Lebesguemåttet. Generaliseringen som utarbetas i denna artikel är väsentligen en diskret version av partiell balayage-operatorn med avseende på mer allmänna mått än Lebesguemåttet. I den tredje artikeln formuleras en version av partiell balayage på riemannska mångfalder utifrån teorin om strömmar. Åtskilliga tidigare kända egenskaper om partiella balayage-mått visas ha motsvarande formuleringar i formuleringen på riemannska mångfalder, bland annat huvudresultatet från den första artikeln. Vidare så utnyttjas det utarbetade ramverket för att visa att tvådimensionella riemannska mångfalder har egenskapen att harmoniska och geodetiska bollar lokalt är ekvivalenta om och endast om mångfalden lokalt har konstant krökning. / <p>QC 20160524</p>

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis we give an overview of self-organised criticality and its application to studying seismicity. We recall some of the basic models and techniques for studying self-organised critical systems. We discuss one of these, the sandpile model, in detail and show how various properties of the model can be calculated using a matrix formulation thereof. A correspondence between self-organised critical systems and seismicity is then proposed. Finally, we consider the timeevolution of the sandpile model by using a time-to-failure analysis, originally developed in the study of seismicity and obtain results for the sandpile model that show similarities with that of the analyses of seismic data. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis gee ons 'n oorsig van self-organiserende kritikaliteit en die toepassing daarvan in die studie van seismisiteit. Ons beskryf die basiese modelle en tegnieke vir die studie van self-organiserende kritiese sisteme. Ons bespreek een van hierdie, die sandhoopmodel, in besonderheid en wys hoe om verskeie eienskappe van die model te bereken deur gebruik te maak van 'n matriks-formulering daarvan. Ons stel dan 'n korrespondensie tussen self-organiserende kritiese sisteme en seismisiteit voor. Ter afsluiting ondersoek ons die tydontwikkeling van die sand hoopmodel deur gebruik te maak van 'n deurbreektyd analise wat oorspronklik in die bestudering seismiese data ontwikkel is. Die resultate vir die analise van die sandhoopmodel toon ooreenkomste met dit wat verkry word vir seismiese data.

Granular materials are in abundance both in nature and in industry. They are of considerable interest to both the engineering and physics communities, due to their practical importance and many unsolved scientific challenges. This thesis is concerned with the “pressure dip” phenomenon underneath a granular pile (commonly known as the “sandpile problem”) which has attracted great attention in the past few decades. Underneath a sandpile that is formed by funnel feeding, a significant minimum (dip) in the vertical base pressure is often found below the apex where a maximum pressure is intuitively expected. Despite a large amount of work undertaken, a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon remains elusive. This thesis presents an extensive study investigating the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon and also its implications on pressures in silos. The study started with a laboratory test programme of conical mini iron pellet piles. The results confirmed that the pressure dip is a robust phenomenon. It was shown that, under certain deposition radius with uniform deposition across the deposition area, a dip emerges firstly in a ring shape when the radius of the formed pile is small and comparable to the deposition radius. With the increase of the pile radius upon further deposition, the dip ring gradually evolves to a central dip as the pressure at outer radius eventually overtakes that in the centre. The magnitude of the dip was found to be significantly affected by the deposition rate but almost unaffected by the deposition height.

On s'intéresse à deux classes de chaînes de Markov combinatoires. On commence avec les chaînes de Markov de Jonglage, inspirées du modèle de jonglage introduit par Warrington, pour lesquelles on définit des généralisations multivariées des modèles existants. On en calcule les mesures stationnaires et les facteurs de normalisation que l'on exprime par des formules explicites. On s'intéresse également au cas limite où la hauteur maximale à laquelle le jongleur peut lancer ses balles tend vers l'infini. On propose alors une reformulation de la chaîne de Markov en termes de partitions d'entiers, ce qui permet aussi de définir un modèle où le jongleur manipule une infinité de balles. Les preuves sont obtenues en utilisant une chaîne enrichie sur les partitions d'ensembles. On exhibe également, pour l'un des modèles, une propriété de convergence ultrarapide : la mesure stationnaire y est atteinte en un nombre fini d'étapes. Dans le Chapitre suivant, on s'intéresse à des généralisations multivariées de ces modèles : on considère cette fois un jongleur manipulant des balles de différents poids, et lorsqu'une balle entre en collision avec une balle plus légère, cette dernière est éjectée vers le haut, pouvant à son tour en heurter une autre plus légère, jusqu'à ce qu'une balle atteigne l'emplacement le plus élevé. On donnera ici encore une formule explicite pour les mesures stationnaires et les facteurs de normalisation. Dans le dernier Chapitre, on s'intéresse cette fois au modèle du tas de sable stochastique, pour lequel on démontre une conjecture posée par Selig, selon laquelle la mesure stationnaire ne dépend pas de la loi d'ajout des grains de sable. / We consider two types of combinatoric Markov chains. We start with Juggling Markov chains, inspired from Warrington's model. We define multivariate generalizations of the existing models, for which we give stationary mesures and normalization factors with closed-form expressions. We also investigate the case where the maximum height at which the juggler may send balls tends to infinity. We then reformulate the Markov chain in terms of integer partitions, which allows us to consider the case where the juggler interacts with infinitely many balls. Our proofs are obtained through an enriched Markov chain on set partitions. We also show that one of the models has the ultrafast convergence property : the stationary mesure is reached after a finite number of steps. In the following Chapter, we consider multivariate generalizations of those models : the juggler now juggles with balls of different weights, and when a heavy ball collides with a lighter one, this light ball is bumped to a higher position, where it might collide with a lighter one, until a ball reaches the highest position. We give closed-form expressions for the stationary mesures and the normalization factors. The last Chapter is dedicated to the stochastic sandpile model, for which we give a proof for a conjecture set by Selig : the stationary mesure does not depend on the law governing sand grains additions.

Les modèles de pile de sable sont une sous-classe d'automates cellulaires. Bak et al. les ont introduit en 1987 comme une illustration de la notion intuitive d'auto-organisation critique.Le modèle de pile de sable Kadanoff est un système dynamique discret non-linéaire imagé par des grains cubiques se déplaçant de colonne parfaitement empilée en colonne parfaitement empilée. Pour un paramètre p fixé, une règle d'éboulement est appliquée jusqu'à atteindre une configuration stable, appelée point fixe : si la différence de hauteur entre deux colonnes consécutives est strictement supérieure à p, alors p grains chutent de la colonne de gauche, un retombant sur chacune des p colonnes adjacentes sur la droite.A partir d'une règle locale simple, décrire et comprendre le comportement macroscopique des piles de sable s'avère très rapidement compliqué. La difficulté consiste en la prise en compte simultanée des modalités discrète et continue du système : vue de loin, une pile de sable s'écoule comme un liquide ; mais de près, lorsque l'on s'attache à décrire exactement une configuration, les effets de la dynamique discrète doivent être pris en compte. Si par exemple nous ajoutons un unique grain à une configuration stable, celui-ci déclenche une avalanche qui ne modifie que la couche supérieure de la pile, mais dont la taille est très difficile à prédire car sensible au moindre changement sur la configuration.En analogie avec un sablier, nous nous intéressons en particulier à la séquence des points fixes atteints par l'ajout répété d'un nombre fini de grains à une même position, et à l'émergence de structures étonnamment régulières.Après avoir établi une conjecture sur l'émergence de motifs de vague sur les points fixes, nous nous pencherons dans un premier temps sur une procédure inductive de calcul des points fixes. Chaque étape de l'induction correspond au calcul d'une avalanche provoquée par l'ajout d'un nouveau grain, et nous en proposerons une description simple. Cette étude sera prolongée par la définition de trace des avalanches sur une colonne i, qui capture dans un mot d'un alphabet fini l'information nécessaire à la reconstitution du point fixe pour les colonnes à la droite de l'indice i. Des liens entre les traces à des indices successifs seront alors exploités, liens qui permettent de conclure l'émergence de traces régulières, pour lesquelles la reconstitution du point fixe implique la formation des motifs de vague observés. Cette première approche est concluante pour le plus petit paramètre conjecturé jusqu'ici, p=2.L'étude du cas général que nous proposons passe par la construction d'un nouveau système mêlant différentes représentations des points fixes, qui sera analysé par l'association d'arguments d'algèbre linéaire et combinatoires (liés respectivement aux modalités continue et discrète des piles de sable). Ce résultat d'émergence de régularités dans un système dynamique discret fait appel à des techniques nouvelles, dont la compréhension d'un élément de preuve reste en particulier à raffiner, ce qui permet d'envisager un cadre plus général d'appréhension de la notion d'émergence. / Sandpile models are a subclass of Cellular Automata. Bak et al. introduced them in 1987 for they exemplify the intuitive notion of Self-Organized Criticality.The Kadanoff sandpile model is a non-linear discrete dynamical system illustrating the evolution of cubic sand grains from nicely packed columns to nicely packed columns. For a fixed parameter p, a rule is applied until reaching a stable configuration, called a fixed point : if the height difference between two consecutive columns is strictly greater than p, then p grains fall from the left column, one landing on each of the p adjacent columns on the right.From a simple local rule, to describe and understand the macroscopic behavior of sandpiles is very quickly challenging. The difficulty consists in the simultaneous study of continuous and discrete aspects of the system: on a large scale, a sandpile flows like a liquid; but on a small scale, when we want to describe exactly the shape of a fixed point, the effects of the discrete dynamic must be taken into account. If for example we add a single grain on a stabilized sandpile, it triggers an avalanche that roughly changes only the upper layer of the configuration, but which size is hard to predict because it is sensitive to the tiniest change of the configuration.In analogy with an hourglass, we are particularly interested in the sequence of fixed points reached after adding a finite number of grains on one position, with the aim of explaining the emergence of surprisingly regular patterns.After conjecturing the emergence of wave patterns on fixed points, we firstly consider an inductive procedure for computing fixed points. Each step of the induction corresponds to the computation of an avalanche triggered by the addition of a new grain, for which we propose a simple description. This study is carried on with the definition of the trace of avalanches on a column i, which catches in a word among a finite alphabet enough information in order to reconstruct the fixed point on the right of index i. Links between traces on successive columns are then investigated, links allowing to conclude the emergence of regular traces, whose fixed point's reconstruction involves the appearance and maintain of the wave patterns observed. This first approach is conclusive for the smallest conjectured parameter so far, p=2.The study of the general case goes through the design of a new system meddling in different representations of fixed points, which will be analyzed via an association of arguments of linear algebra and combinatorics (respectively corresponding to the continuous and discrete modalities of sandpiles). This result stating the emergence of regularities in a discrete dynamical system put new technics into light, for which the comprehension of a particular point in the proof remains to be increased. This motivates the consideration of a more general frame of work tackling the notion of emergence.