Height variables in the Abelian sandpile model: scaling fields and correlations

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the height variables in the 2D Abelian sandpile model, deriving their exact scaling forms and confirming compatibility with a c=-2 logarithmic conformal field theory, providing new insights into their correlation structure.

Contribution

It provides exact lattice probabilities, scaling forms, and a conjecture for 2-point correlations, linking sandpile heights to a specific logarithmic conformal field theory with c=-2.

Findings

Heights 2, 3, 4 correspond to the logarithmic partner of a primary field with dimension 2.

Height 1 is associated with the primary field itself.

Finite size corrections match numerical simulations.

Abstract

We compute the lattice 1-site probabilities, on the upper half-plane, of the four height variables in the two-dimensional Abelian sandpile model. We find their exact scaling form when the insertion point is far from the boundary, and when the boundary is either open or closed. Comparing with the predictions of a logarithmic conformal theory with central charge c=-2, we find a full compatibility with the following field assignments: the heights 2, 3 and 4 behave like (an unusual realization of) the logarithmic partner of a primary field with scaling dimension 2, the primary field itself being associated with the height 1 variable. Finite size corrections are also computed and successfully compared with numerical simulations. Relying on these field assignments, we formulate a conjecture for the scaling form of the lattice 2-point correlations of the height variables on the plane, which remain as yet unknown. The way conformal invariance is realized in this system points to a local field theory with c=-2 which is different from the triplet theory.