The complex scaling behavior of non--conserved self--organized critical systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex scaling behavior of the Olami-Feder-Christensen earthquake model, revealing that event size distributions are influenced by multiple phenomena and tend to be dominated by small avalanches as system size grows.

Contribution

It uncovers the intricate factors affecting event distributions in the model and proposes that small avalanches dominate in large systems, highlighting complex dynamics.

Findings

Event size distribution results from multiple phenomena.

Large avalanches become less significant as system size increases.

Parallels between synchronized regions and periodic boundary systems.

Abstract

The Olami--Feder--Christensen earthquake model is often considered the prototype dissipative self--organized critical model. It is shown that the size distribution of events in this model results from a complex interplay of several different phenomena, including limited floating--point precision. Parallels between the dynamics of synchronized regions and those of a system with periodic boundary conditions are pointed out, and the asymptotic avalanche size distribution is conjectured to be dominated by avalanches of size one, with the weight of larger avalanches converging towards zero as the system size increases.