From waves to avalanches: two different mechanisms of sandpile dynamics

Time series resulting from wave decomposition show the existence of different correlation patterns for avalanche dynamics. For the d=2 Bak-Tang-Wisenfeld model, long range correlations determine a modification of the wave size distribution under coarse graining in time, and multifractal scaling for avalanches. In the Manna model, the distribution of avalanche coincides with that of waves, which are uncorrelated and obey finite size scaling, a result expected also for the d=3 Bak-Tang-Wiesenfeld sandpile.