Correlations in avalanche critical points

Avalanche dynamics and related power law statistics are ubiquitous in nature, arising in phenomena like earthquakes, forest fires and solar flares. Very interestingly, an analogous behavior is associated with many condensed matter systems, like ferromagnets and martensites. Bearing it in mind, we study the prototypical 3D RFIM at T=0. We find a finite correlation between waiting intervals between avalanches and the previous avalanche size. This correlation is not found in other models for avalanches, such as the standard BTW model, but it is experimentally found in earthquakes and in forest fires. Our study suggests that this effect occurs in critical points which are at the end of an athermal first-order transition line separating two behaviors: one with high activity from another with low activity.