Growth rate of two-column sticky deposition ($H_n/n⟶2/3\text{almost surely}$)

Suppose each new unit block independently selects one of two columns with equal probability. On the taller column it increases the maximum height; on the shorter column it sticks level with the other column, leaving the maximum unchanged. If the columns have equal height, the next block increases the maximum. Their absolute height difference $D_n$ is the reset-or-increment Markov chain with $p=1/2$.

For the maximum height $H_n$, each increment obeys $H_n-H_{n-1}=1_{\{D_n>0\}}$. The stationary distribution has ${\pi }_0=1/3$. Applying the countable-state Markov chain ergodic theorem to the bounded indicator function of the positive states givesalmost surely, from any fixed finite starting configuration. The reward average depends only on whether a reset occurred, even though the difference chain has infinitely many states.