On the sandpile group of regular trees (Q872040)

Let \(\hat{\mathcal R}\) be a finite graph of order \(n\) (possibly with multiple edges) with a special vertex \(v\), the sink of \(\hat{\mathcal R}\). The Laplacian \(L\) of \(\hat{\mathcal R}\) is the \( n \times n \) matrix whose diagonal entries are the degrees of the vertices of the graph and the \((i,j)\)-th entry is the negative of the number of edges connecting the \(i\)th and the \(j\)th vertex. If \(\Delta\) is the submatrix of \(L\) obtained by deleting the row and column of the sink \(v\) of \(\hat{\mathcal R}\), and \(\Lambda\) is the lattice spanned by the rows of \(\Delta \), the sandpile group \(G\) of \(\hat{\mathcal R}\) is the factor group \( Z^{n-1}/\Lambda \) (where the name of the group corresponds to a representation based on assigning integral weights to the vertices of \(\hat{\mathcal R}\) and consequent redistribution of the weights from the oversaturated vertices, those whose weights exceed their degrees, to their neighbors; with the special vertex \(v\) serving as an actual sink). The structure of the sandpile group for a given finite graph is hard to determine, and the present paper addresses the sandpile groups \(G(d,h)\) of the class of complete \(d\)-valent trees of depth \(h\) (i.e., each vertex other than the leaves is of degree \(d\)) with the sink chosen to be the root of the tree (the unique vertex of distance \(h\) from all the leaves). The paper contains a large number of results and observations concerning the groups \(G(d,h)\). Most importantly, the author determines the rank of \(G(d,h)\) to be \( (d-1)^h \), shows the existence of \( Z_d^{(d-1)^h} \) in \(G(d,h)\), determines that the Hall-subgroup of \(G(d,h)\) whose order contains the same prime divisors as \((d-1)\) is cyclic of order \((d-1)^h\), and finds explicit formulas for the order and the exponent of \(G(d,h)\).