Deterministic Random Walks on the Two-Dimensional Grid

Jim Propp's rotor–router model is a deterministic analogue of a random walk on a graph. Instead of distributing chips randomly, each vertex serves its neighbours in a fixed order. We analyse the difference between the Propp machine and random walk on the infinite two-dimensional grid. It is known that, apart from a technicality, independent of the starting configuration, at each time the number of chips on each vertex in the Propp model deviates from the expected number of chips in the random walk model by at most a constant. We show that this constant is approximately 7.8 if all vertices serve their neighbours in clockwise or order, and 7.3 otherwise. This result in particular shows that the order in which the neighbours are served makes a difference. Our analysis also reveals a number of further unexpected properties of the two-dimensional Propp machine.