Controlling self-organized criticality of a preferential sandpile model on scale-free networks

Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati - Guwahati-781039, Assam, India

^(a) santra@iitg.ernet.in

Received: 1 May 2018
Accepted: 9 November 2018

Abstract

Controlling of self-organized criticality is attempted developing a two-state sandpile model on scale-free networks distributing sand grains to preferred nodes. Keeping the degree of one of the nodes fixed to the lowest possible value and varying the degree of the other node from the lowest to the highest possible value, the critical steady state of the model is characterized for a wide range of degree distribution for a given dissipation rate. The preferential sand distribution to the targeted nodes leads to completely different dynamics and toppling number density correlation in comparison to random distribution of sand grains as in a stochastic model. The model is found to follow the mean-field theory in the random regime, whereas a nontrivial scaling behaviour very different from the mean-field one is observed in the scale-free regime of the network. Distribution of sand grains to the extreme degrees is found to be an efficient and cost-effective way of controlling self-organization as the catastrophic cascades in terms of large avalanches in this model are found to be confined in certain restricted regions of the network in the scale-free regime contrary to that of a stochastic model where the whole network gets exposed.