Sandpiles on the Vicsek fractal explode with probability 1/4

Abstract

Vicsek fractal graphs are an important class of infinite graphs with self similar properties, polynomial growth and treelike features, on which several dynamical processes such as random walks or Abelian sandpiles can be rigorously analyzed and one can obtain explicit closed form expressions. While such processes on Vicsek fractals and on Euclidean lattices $\mathbb{Z}^2$ share some properties for instance in the recurrence behaviour, many quantities related to sandpiles on Euclidean lattices are still poorly understood. The current work focuses on the stabilization and explosion of Abelian sandpiles on Vicsek fractal graphs, and we prove that a sandpile sampled from the infinite volume limit plus one additional particle stabilizes with probability 3/4, that is, it does not stabilize almost surely and it explodes with the complementary probability 1/4. We prove the main result by using two different approaches: one of probabilistic nature and one of algebraic flavor. The first approach is based on investigating the particles sent to the boundary of finite volumes and showing that their number stays above four with positive probability. In the second approach we relate the question of stabilization and explosion of sandpiles in infinite volume to the order of elements of the sandpile group on finite approximations of the infinite Vicsek graph. The method applies to more general state spaces and by employing it we also find all invariant factors of the sandpile groups on the finite approximations of the infinite Vicsek fractal.