The nature of self-organized criticality (SOC) is pin-pointed with a simple mechanical model: a pinball machine. Its phase space is fully parameterized by two integer variables, one describing the state of an on-going game, the other describing the state of the machine. This is the simplest...

We present some analytical results for the stochastic sandpile model studied earlier by Manna. In this model, the operators corresponding to particle addition at different sites commute. The eigenvalues of operators satisfy a system of coupled polynomial equations. For an L×L square, we...

This article is based on a talk given by one of us (EVI) at the conference “StatPhys-Taipei-1997”. It overviews the exact results in the theory of the sandpile model and discusses briefly the yet unsolved problem of calculation of avalanche distribution exponents. The key ingredients include...

We study the spin-1 Ising model with non-local constraints imposed by the Bak–Tang–Wiesenfeld sandpile model of self-organized criticality (SOC). The model is constructed as if the sandpile is being built on a (honeycomb) lattice with Ising interactions. In this way we combine two models...

Reduction in b-values before a large earthquake is a very popular topic for discussion. This study proposes an alternative sandpile model being able to demonstrate reduction in scaling exponents before large events through adaptable long-range connections. The distant connection between two...

Avalanche or cascade failure is ubiquitous. We first classify the cascading phenomena into two categories: the cascading disasters which result in large-scale functional failures and the cascading events that do not lead to disasters. We elucidate that two important factors, the increasing...

Critical properties of external perimeters of islands that appear at the flooding transition in the toppling surfaces, defined by the toppling number Si of each sand column, of stochastic and rotational sandpile models are studied. A set of new critical exponents are estimated by extensive...

We have described a lattice model of a sandpile that includes a coupling between evolving granular structures and dynamic responses. The coupling manifests as a granular memory. We have illustrated the role of memory by observing avalanches in a (three)-dimensional model sandpile. There are two...

We develop a parsimonious model of the interbank payment system. The model incorporates an endogenous instruction arrival process, a scale-free topology of payments between banks, a fixed total liquidity which limits banks’ capacity to process arriving instructions, and a global market that...