We consider upper level-sets of the Gaussian free field on $\mathbb Z^d$, for $d\geq 3$, above a given real-valued height parameter $h$. As $h$ varies, this defines a canonical percolation model with strong, algebraically decaying correlations. We prove that three natural critical parameters associated to this model, respectively describing a well-ordered subcritical phase, the emergence of an infinite cluster, and the onset of a local uniqueness regime in the supercritical phase, actually coincide. At the core of our proof lies a new interpolation scheme aimed at integrating out the long-range dependence of the Gaussian free field. Due to the strength of correlations, its successful implementation requires that we work in an effectively critical regime. Our analysis relies extensively on certain novel renormalization techniques that bring into play all relevant scales simultaneously. The approach in this article paves the way to a complete understanding of the off-critical phases for strongly correlated disordered systems.
We consider a general enough set-up and obtain a refinement of the coupling between the Gaussian free field and random interlacements recently constructed by Titus Lupu in arXiv:1402.0298. We apply our results to level-set percolation of the Gaussian free field on a $(d+1)$-regular tree, when $d \ge 2$, and derive bounds on the critical value $h_*$. In particular, we show that $0 < h_* < \sqrt{2u_*}$, where $u_*$ denotes the critical level for the percolation of the vacant set of random interlacements on a $(d+1)$-regular tree.
We investigate level-set percolation of the Gaussian free field on transient trees, for instance on super-critical Galton-Watson trees conditioned on non-extinction. Recently developed Dynkin-type isomorphism theorems provide a comparison with percolation of the vacant set of random interlacements, which is more tractable in the case of trees. If $h_*$ and $u_*$ denote the respective (non-negative) critical values of level-set percolation of the Gaussian free field and of the vacant set of random interlacements, we show here that $h_* < \sqrt{2u}_*$ in a broad enough set-up, but provide an exa…
We prove that cluster observables of level-sets of the Gaussian free field on the hypercubic lattice $\mathbb{Z}^d$, $d\geq3$, are analytic on the whole off-critical regime $\mathbb{R}\setminus\{h_*\}$. This result concerns in particular the percolation density function $θ(h)$ and the (truncated) susceptibility $χ(h)$. As an important step towards the proof, we show the exponential decay in probability for the capacity of a finite cluster for all $h\neq h_*$, which we believe to be a result of independent interest. We also discuss the case of general transient graphs.
We consider the Gaussian free field on $\mathbb{Z}^d$, $d$ greater or equal to $3$, and prove that the critical density for percolation of its level sets behaves like $1/d^{1 + o(1)}$ as $d$ tends to infinity. Our proof gives the principal asymptotic behavior of the corresponding critical level $h_*(d)$. Moreover, it shows that a related parameter $h_{**}(d) \geq h_*(d)$ introduced by Rodriguez and Sznitman in arXiv:1202.5172 is in fact asymptotically equivalent to $h_*(d)$.
We prove that the critical percolation parameter for Finitary Random Interlacements (FRI) is continuous with respect to the path length parameter $T$. The proof uses a result which is interesting on its own right; equality of natural critical parameters for FRI percolation phase transition.
Consider nearest-neighbor oriented percolation in $d+1$ space-time dimensions. Let $ρ,η,ν$ be the critical exponents for the survival probability up to time $t$, the expected number of vertices at time $t$ connected from the space-time origin, and the gyration radius of those vertices, respectively. We prove that the hyperscaling inequality $dν\geη+2ρ$, which holds for all $d\ge1$ and is a strict inequality above the upper-critical dimension 4, becomes an equality for $d=1$, i.e., $ν=η+2ρ$, provided existence of at least two among $ρ,η,ν$. The key to the proof is the recent result on the criti…
We study the level-set percolation of the Gaussian free field on Z^d, d bigger or equal to 3. We consider a level alpha such that the excursion-set of the Gaussian free field above alpha percolates. We derive large deviation estimates on the probability that the excursion-set of the Gaussian free field below the level alpha disconnects a box of large side-length from the boundary of a larger homothetic box. It remains an open question whether our asymptotic upper and lower bounds are matching. With the help of a recent work of Lupu, see arXiv:1402.0298, we are able to infer some asymptotic upp…
We prove upper bounds on the one-arm exponent $η_1$ for a class of dependent percolation models which generalise Bernoulli percolation; while our main interest is level set percolation of Gaussian fields, the arguments apply to other models in the Bernoulli percolation universality class, including Poisson-Voronoi and Poisson-Boolean percolation. More precisely, in dimension $d=2$ we prove that $η_1 \le 1/3$ for continuous Gaussian fields with rapid correlation decay (e.g. the Bargmann-Fock field), and in $d \ge 3$ we prove $η_1 \le d/3$ for finite-range fields, both discrete and continuous, a…
We consider a class of random loop models (including the random interchange process) that are parametrised by a time parameter $β\geq 0$. Intuitively, larger $β$ means more randomness. In particular, at $β=0$ we start with loops of length 1 and as $β$ crosses a critical value $β_c$, infinite loops start to occur almost surely. Our random loop models admit a natural comparison to bond percolation with $p=1-e^{-β}$ on the same graph to obtain a lower bound on $β_c$. For those graphs of diverging vertex degree where $β_c$ and the critical parameter for percolation have been calculated explicitly,…
We consider the level-sets of continuous Gaussian fields on $\mathbb{R}^d$ above a certain level $-\ell\in \mathbb{R}$, which defines a percolation model as $\ell$ varies. We assume that the covariance kernel satisfies certain regularity, symmetry and positivity conditions as well as a polynomial decay with exponent greater than $d$ (in particular, this includes the Bargmann-Fock field). Under these assumptions, we prove that the model undergoes a sharp phase transition around its critical point $\ell_c$. More precisely, we show that connection probabilities decay exponentially for $\ell<\ell_…
In the last two decades there was a lot of progress in understanding the geometry of smooth Gaussian fields. This survey aims to cover one particular line of research: the large scale behaviour of level and excursion sets and their (conjectured) connection to the percolation theory.
In this paper, we prove that Bernoulli percolation on bounded degree graphs with isoperimetric dimension $d>4$ undergoes a non-trivial phase transition (in the sense that $p_c<1$). As a corollary, we obtain that the critical point of Bernoulli percolation on infinite quasi-transitive graphs (in particular, Cayley graphs) with super-linear growth is strictly smaller than 1, thus answering a conjecture of Benjamini and Schramm. The proof relies on a new technique consisting in expressing certain functionals of the Gaussian Free Field (GFF) in terms of connectivity probabilities for percolation m…
For $d \geq 3$ we obtain an approximation of the zero-average Gaussian free field on the discrete $d$-dimensional torus of large side length $N$ by the Gaussian free field on $\mathbb Z^d$, valid in boxes of roughly side length $N - N^δ$ with $δ\in (\frac12,1)$. As an implication, the level sets of the zero-average Gaussian free field on the torus can be approximated by the level sets of the Gaussian free field on $\mathbb Z^d$. This leads to a series of applications related to level-set percolation. We show that level sets of the zero-average Gaussian free field on the torus for levels $h > h…
For the Gaussian free field on a $(d + 1)$-regular tree with $d \geq 2$, we study the percolative properties of its level sets in the critical and the near-critical regime. In particular, we show the continuity of the percolation probability, derive an exact symptotic tail estimate for the cardinality of the connected component of the critical level set, and describe the asymptotic behaviour of the percolation probability in the near-critical regime.
We prove decoupling inequalities for the Gaussian free field on $\mathbb{Z}^d$, $d\geq 3$. As an application, we obtain exponential decay (with logarithmic correction for $d=3$) of the connectivity function of excursion sets for large values of the threshold.
We study level-set percolation for Gaussian free fields on metric graphs. In two dimensions, we give an upper bound on the chemical distance between the two boundaries of a macroscopic annulus. Our bound holds with high probability conditioned on connectivity and the bound is sharp up to a poly-logarithmic factor with an exponent of one-quarter. This substantially improves a previous result by Li and the first author. In three dimensions and higher, we provide rather sharp estimates of percolation probabilities in different regimes which altogether describe a sharp phase transition.
Recently, many results have been established drawing a parallel between Bernoulli percolation and models given by levels of smooth Gaussian fields with unbounded, strongly decaying correlation. In a previous work with D. Gayet , we started to extend these analogies by adapting the first basic results of classical first passage percolation in this new framework: positivity of the time constant and the ball-shape theorem. In the present paper, we present a proof inspired by Kesten of other basic properties of the new FPP model: an upper bound on the variance in the FPP pseudometric given by the …
We initiate the study on chemical distances of percolation clusters for level sets of two-dimensional discrete Gaussian free fields as well as loop clusters generated by two-dimensional random walk loop soups. One of our results states that the chemical distance between two macroscopic annuli away from the boundary for the random walk loop soup at the critical intensity is of dimension 1 with positive probability. Our proof method is based on an interesting combination of a theorem of Makarov, isomorphism theory and an entropic repulsion estimate for Gaussian free fields in the presence of a h…
We study level-set percolation of the Gaussian free field on the infinite $d$-regular tree for fixed $d\geq 3$. Denoting by $h_\star$ the critical value, we obtain the following results: for $h>h_\star$ we derive estimates on conditional exponential moments of the size of a fixed connected component of the level set above level $h$; for $h<h_\star$ we prove that the number of vertices connected over distance $k$ above level $h$ to a fixed vertex grows exponentially in $k$ with positive probability. Furthermore, we show that the percolation probability is a continuous function of the level $h$,…
In this note we discuss vacant set level set percolation on a transient weighted graph. It interpolates between the percolation of the vacant set of random interlacements and the level set percolation of the Gaussian free field. We employ coupling and derive a stochastic domination from which we deduce in a rather general set-up a certain monotonicity property of the percolation function. In the case of regular trees this stochastic domination leads to a strict inequality between some eigenvalues related to Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semi-groups for which we have no direct analytical proof. It underpi…
We investigate the phase transition in a non-planar correlated percolation model with long-range dependence, obtained by considering level sets of a Gaussian free field with mass above a given height $h$. The dependence present in the model is a notorious impediment when trying to analyze the behavior near criticality. Alongside the critical threshold $h_{*}$ for percolation, a second parameter $h_{**} \geq h_{*}$ characterizes a strongly subcritical regime. We prove that the relevant crossing probabilities converge to $1$ polynomially fast below $h_{**}$, which (firmly) suggests that the phas…
We consider the zero-average Gaussian free field on a certain class of finite $d$-regular graphs for fixed $d\ge 3$. This class includes $d$-regular expanders of large girth and typical realisations of random $d$-regular graphs. We show that the level set of the zero-average Gaussian free field above level $h$ has a giant component in the whole supercritical phase, that is for all $h<h_\star$, with probability tending to one as the size of the graphs tends to infinity. In addition, we show that this component is unique. This significantly improves the result of [AC20b], where it was shown that…
We consider first passage percolation (FPP) where the vertex weight is given by the exponential of two-dimensional log-correlated Gaussian fields. Our work is motivated by understanding the discrete analog for the random metric associated with \emph{Liouville quantum gravity} (LQG), which roughly corresponds to the exponential of a two-dimensional Gaussian free field (GFF). The particular focus of the present paper is an aspect of universality for such FPP among the family of log-correlated Gaussian fields. More precisely, we construct a family of log-correlated Gaussian fields, and show that …
Let f be a stationary isotropic non-degenerate Gaussian field on R^2. Assume that f = q * W where q is both C^2 and L^2 and W is the L^2 white noise on R^2. We extend a result by Stephen Muirhead and Hugo Vanneuville by showing that, assuming that q * q is pointwise non-negative and has fast enough decay, the set {f > -l} percolates with probability one when l > 0 and with probability zero if l < 0 or l = 0. We also prove exponential decay of crossing probabilities and uniqueness of the unbounded cluster. To this end, we study a Gaussian field g defined on the torus and establish a superconcen…
We prove that the connectivity of the level sets of a wide class of smooth centred planar Gaussian fields exhibits a phase transition at the zero level that is analogous to the phase transition in Bernoulli percolation. In addition to symmetry, positivity and regularity conditions, we assume only that correlations decay polynomially with exponent larger than two -- roughly equivalent to the integrability of the covariance kernel -- whereas previously the phase transition was only known in the case of the Bargmann-Fock covariance kernel which decays super-exponentially. We also prove that the p…
In this article, we study the excursions sets $\mathcal{D}\_p=f^{-1}([-p,+\infty[)$ where $f$ is a natural real-analytic planar Gaussian field called the Bargmann-Fock field. More precisely, $f$ is the centered Gaussian field on $\mathbb{R}^2$ with covariance $(x,y) \mapsto \exp(-\frac{1}{2}|x-y|^2)$. In [BG16], Beffara and Gayet prove that, if $p \leq 0$, then a.s. $\mathcal{D}\_p$ has no unbounded component. We show that conversely, if $p>0$, then a.s. $\mathcal{D}\_p$ has a unique unbounded component. As a result, the critical level of this percolation model is $0$. We also prove exponentia…
We consider the bond percolation problem on a transient weighted graph induced by the excursion sets of the Gaussian free field on the corresponding cable system. Owing to the continuity of this setup and the strong Markov property of the field on the one hand, and the links with potential theory for the associated diffusion on the other, we rigorously determine the behavior of various key quantities related to the (near-)critical regime for this model. In particular, our results apply in case the base graph is the three-dimensional cubic lattice. They unveil the values of the associated criti…
Kesten's incipient infinite cluster for the three-dimensional, metric-graph Gaussian free field, from critical level-set percolation, and for the Villain model, from random cluster geometries and a Swendsen-Wang type algorithm
We consider the zero-average Gaussian free field on a certain class of finite $d$-regular graphs for fixed $d\geq 3$. This class includes $d$-regular expanders of large girth and typical realisations of random $d$-regular graphs. We show that the level set of the zero-average Gaussian free field above level $h$ exhibits a phase transition at level $h_\star$, which agrees with the critical value for level-set percolation of the Gaussian free field on the infinite $d$-regular tree. More precisely, we show that, with probability tending to one as the size of the finite graphs tends to infinity, t…
Let $T$ be a random ergodic pseudometric over $\mathbb R^d$. This setting generalizes the classical \emph{first passage percolation} (FPP) over $\mathbb Z^d$. We provide simple conditions on $T$, the decay of instant one-arms and exponential quasi-independence, that ensure the positivity of its time constants, that is almost surely, the pseudo-distance given by $T$ from the origin is asymptotically a norm. Combining this general result with previously known ones, we prove that The known phase transition for Gaussian percolation in the case of fields with positive correlations with exponentiall…
Consider two random variables following Skellam distributions of parameters going to infinity linearly. We prove that the limit distribution of the first variable, conditionally on being equal to the second, is Gaussian.
For a general class of percolation models with long-range correlations on $\mathbb Z^d$, $d\geq 2$, introduced in arXiv:1212.2885, we establish regularity conditions of Barlow arXiv:math/0302004 that mesoscopic subballs of all large enough balls in the unique infinite percolation cluster have regular volume growth and satisfy a weak Poincaré inequality. As immediate corollaries, we deduce quenched heat kernel bounds, parabolic Harnack inequality, and finiteness of the dimension of harmonic functions with at most polynomial growth. Heat kernel bounds and the quenched invariance principle of arX…
The energy and geometry of maximizing paths in integrable last passage percolation models are governed by the characteristic KPZ scaling exponents of one-third and two-thirds. When represented in scaled coordinates that respect these exponents, this random field of paths may be viewed as a complex energy landscape. We investigate the structure of valleys and connecting pathways in this landscape. The routed weight profile $\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ associates to $x \in \mathbb{R}$ the maximum scaled energy obtainable by a path whose scaled journey from $(0,0)$ to $(0,1)$ passes through the po…
Given a planar continuum Gaussian free field $h^{\mathcal U}$ in a domain $\mathcal U$ with Dirichlet boundary condition and any $δ>0$, we let $\{h_δ^{\mathcal U}(v): v\in \mathcal U\}$ be a real-valued smooth Gaussian process where $h_δ^{\mathcal U}(v)$ is the average of $h^{\mathcal U}$ along a circle of radius $δ$ with center $v$. For $γ> 0$, we study the Liouville first passage percolation (in scale $δ$), i.e., the shortest path distance in $\mathcal U$ where the weight of each path $P$ is given by $\int_P \mathrm{e}^{γh_δ^{\mathcal U}(z)} |dz|$. We show that the distance between two typic…
Let $\{η_{N, v}: v\in V_N\}$ be a discrete Gaussian free field in a two-dimensional box $V_N$ of side length $N$ with Dirichlet boundary conditions. We study the Liouville first passage percolation, i.e., the shortest path metric where each vertex is given a weight of $e^{γη_{N, v}}$ for some $γ>0$. We show that for sufficiently small but fixed $γ>0$, the expected Liouville FPP distance between any pair of vertices is $O(N^{1-γ^2/10^3})$.
We prove the existence of phase transitions in the global connectivity of the excursion sets of planar symmetric shot noise fields. Our main result establishes a phase transition with respect to the level for shot noise fields with symmetric log-concave mark distributions, including Gaussian, uniform, and Laplace marks, and kernels that are positive, symmetric, and have sufficient tail decay. Without the log-concavity assumption we prove a phase transition with respect to the intensity of positive marks.
We study in depth the nesting graph and volume distribution of the nodal domains of a Gaussian field, which have been shown in previous works to exhibit asymptotic laws. A striking link is established between the asymptotic mean connectivity of a nodal domain (i.e.\ the vertex degree in its nesting graph) and the positivity of the percolation probability of the field, along with a direct dependence of the average nodal volume on the percolation probability. Our results support the prevailing ansatz that the mean connectivity and volume of a nodal domain is conserved for generic random fields i…
