Dissipative Avalanche Regimes Driven by Memory-Biased Random Walks on Networks
Abstract
We investigate a network model in which a single random walker combines local diffusion with preferential resetting to previously visited nodes. Each arrival deposits one unit of stress on the target node, and threshold crossings trigger sandpile-like relaxation cascades. The fixed per-neighbor transfer rule produces a brittle transition on Watts--Strogatz networks: below the stress-balance condition cascades remain short, whereas mildly supercritical transfer values generate runaway-capped events at large system sizes. A subtractive dissipative rule -- in which a toppling node loses units and redistributes only across its neighbors -- stabilizes broad, finite cascades over a significantly wider parameter range. For and , the dissipative model remains non-runaway through and favors power-law tails by AIC model selection; however, system-scale event fractions decrease with , a branching-ratio proxy remains below unity, and bootstrap Kolmogorov--Smirnov tests reject a pure power law. Shuffled-order controls that preserve node-visit frequencies while randomizing the temporal sequence of arrivals yield nearly identical avalanche macrostatistics for across memory strengths --, demonstrating that dissipation and redistribution rules dominate over temporal memory ordering in the regime we can reliably characterize. On Barab\'{a}si--Albert networks, fixed per-neighbor transfer is strongly hub-sensitive, while degree-normalized transfer suppresses runaways but yields distributions better described by exponentials. The central conclusion is therefore regime-based: memory-biased driving localizes stress injection and shapes visitation hotspots, but broad cascade behavior is governed primarily by stress balance, dissipation strength, and network topology.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2505.19296,
title = {Dissipative Avalanche Regimes Driven by Memory-Biased Random Walks on Networks},
author = {Mohammad Jafari},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.19296},
year = {2026}
}