Chip Firing and Algebraic Curves

Tropical Geometry Forwards and Backwards

“…1 Despite being a central topic in algebraic geometry as far back as the 19th century, the subject is filled with compelling open questions. In a very influential paper, Baker proposed using the tropical dictionary in Brill-Noether theory [2,7]. Later in this article, we will discuss ways in which tropical geometry has helped shed light on such questions.…”

“…By finding an example of a graph that violates this, one proves a theorem in algebraic geometry. Another recent article in this publication gives a friendly introduction to chip-firing and its applications [7].…”