A model of random sequential adsorption on a ladder graph

Abstract In random sequential adsorption (RSA), objects are deposited on a substrate randomly, irreversibly, and sequentially. Attempts of deposition that lead to an overlap with previously deposited objects are discarded. The process continues until the system reaches a jammed state when no further additions are possible. We analyze a class of RSA models on a two-row square ladder graph in which landing on an empty site in a graph is allowed when at least b neighboring sites in the graph are unoccupied ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>b</mml:mi> <mml:mo>∈</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="double-struck">N</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ). In this paper we complement this typical way of studying RSA models by analyzing also the structure of the set of all jammed states in a static way, disregarding the dynamics that led to a particular jammed state. In both considered settings (dynamic and static) we provide explicit expressions for key statistics that describe the average proportion of the substrate covered by deposited objects, and then we comment on significant differences between the two settings. We illustrate all of our findings through a toy model for ensembles of trapped Rydberg atoms with blockade range b .