Dynamical and spatial aspects of sandpile cellular automata

Abstract

The Bak, Tang, and Wiesenfeld cellular automaton is simulated in 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 dimensions. We define a (new) set of scaling exponents by introducing the concept of conditional expectation values. Scaling relations are derived and checked numerically and the critical dimension is discussed. We address the problem of the mass dimension of the avalanches and find that the avalanches are noncompact for dimensions larger than 2. The scaling of the power spectrum derives from the assumption that the instantaneous dissipation rate of the individual avalanches obeys a simple scaling relation. Primarily, the results of our work show that the flow of sand down the slope does not have a 1/f power spectrum in any dimension, although the model does show clear critical behavior with scaling exponents depending on the dimension. The power spectrum behaves as 1/f 2 in all the dimensions considered.