A recursive structure of sand pile model and its applications

The Sand Pile Model (SPM) and its generalization, the Ice Pile Model (IPM), originate from physics and have various applications in the description of the evolution of granular systems. In this article, we deal with the enumeration and the exhaustive generation of the accessible configuration of the system. Our work is based on a new recursive decomposition theorem for SPM configurations using the notion of staircase bases. Based on this theorem, we provide a recursive formula for the enumeration of SPM(n) and a constant amortized time (CAT) algorithm for the generation of all SPM(n) configurations. The extension of the same approach to the Ice Pile Model is also discussed.