The looped-path sorting conjecture

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Let S⊆ZS\subseteq\mathbb{Z}, and let Z⟨S⟩\mathbb{Z}\langle S\rangle be the graph obtained from the infinite path Z\mathbb{Z} by adding one loop at each vertex in SS. For a chip configuration C\mathcal{C}, write C~Z⟨S⟩\widetilde{\mathcal{C}}^{\mathbb{Z}\langle S\rangle} for its stable stabilization on this graph. Suppose n∈Nn\in\mathbb{N} satisfies

min(nδ0~Z⟨S⟩)<min((n−1)δ0~Z⟨S⟩)\mathrm{min}(\widetilde{n\delta_0}^{\mathbb{Z}\langle S\rangle})<\mathrm{min}(\widetilde{(n-1)\delta_0}^{\mathbb{Z}\langle S\rangle})

and

max(nδ0~Z⟨S⟩)>max((n−1)δ0~Z⟨S⟩).\mathrm{max}(\widetilde{n\delta_0}^{\mathbb{Z}\langle S\rangle})>\mathrm{max}(\widetilde{(n-1)\delta_0}^{\mathbb{Z}\langle S\rangle}).

Looped-path sorting conjecture. Then Z⟨S⟩\mathbb{Z}\langle S\rangle sorts Δn\Delta^n. Here, sorting means that every labeled stabilization of the initial configuration Δn\Delta^n is in sorted order. This generalizes the main sorting theorem for the infinite path and includes the cases S=∅S=\varnothing and S={0}S=\{0\}, while the general balanced-loop case remains open.

References

Primary source

Sam Hopkins, Thomas McConville and James Propp, “Sorting via chip-firing”, arXiv:1612.06816 (2016).

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