Probability Seminar
Monday, September 23, 2019 - 4:00pm
Malott 406
The Abelian sandpile is a simple combinatorial model from statistical physics which produces striking fractal-like patterns. Why do these patterns appear? What aspects of the patterns persist under the introduction of randomness?
I will introduce the model and then hint at how tools from elliptic partial differential equations and ergodic theory can be used to (partially) answer these questions.