Sandpile monomorphisms and limits

Abstract

We introduce a tiling problem between bounded open convex polyforms $\hat{P}\subset\mathbb{R}^2$ with directed and uniquely colored edges. If there exists a tiling of the polyform $\hat{P}_2$ by $\hat{P}_1$, we show that one can construct a monomorphism from the sandpile group $G_{\Gamma_1}=\mathbb{Z}^{\Gamma_1}/\Delta(\mathbb{Z}^{\Gamma_1})$ on the domain (graph) $\Gamma_1=\hat{P}_1\cap\mathbb{Z}^2$ to the respective group on $\Gamma_2=\hat{P}_2\cap\mathbb{Z}^2$. We provide several examples of infinite series of such tilings with polyforms converging to $\mathbb{R}^2$, and thus the first definition of scaling-limits for the sandpile group on the plane. Additional results include an exact sequence relating sandpile configurations to harmonic functions, an alternative formula for the order of the sandpile group based on a basis for the module of integer-valued harmonic functions, and three examples of how to prove the existence of (cyclic) subgroups for infinite families of sandpile groups by constructing appropriate integer-valued harmonic functions. The main open question concerns if the scaling-limits of the sandpile group for different sequences of polyforms converging to $\mathbb{R}^2$ are isomorphic.