The Sandpile Group and Self-Organized Criticality by Sameer Khan '23, Mathematics Colloquium

The Sandpile Group and Self-Organized Criticality by Sameer Khan ’23, Mathematics Colloquium, Wednesday, November 16, 1 – 1:45 pm, North Science Building 113, Wachenheim.

Abstract:  The Abelian sandpile model was the first dynamical system that was shown to exhibit self-organized criticality, a concept important to physics, biology, economics, and sociology, amongst other fields of study.  This talk will use the Abelian sandpile model as motivation for investigating a closely related concept, the sandpile group, and some of its algebra.