Chip firing and all-terminal network reliability bounds

The (all-terminal) reliability of a graph G is the probability that all vertices are in the same connected component, given that vertices are always operational but edges fail independently each with probability p. Computing reliability is #P-complete, and hence is expected to be intractable. Consequently techniques for efficiently (and effectively) bounding reliability have been the major thrust of research in the area. We utilize a deep connection between reliability and chip firings on graphs to improve previous bounds for reliability. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.