We investigate spatial random graphs defined on the points of a Poisson process in $d$-dimensional space, which combine scale-free degree distributions and long-range effects. Every Poisson point is assigned an independent weight. Given the weight and position of the points, we form an edge between any pair of points independently with a probability depending on the two weights of the points and their distance. Preference is given to short edges and connections to vertices with large weights. We characterize the parameter regime where there is a nontrivial percolation phase transition and show that it depends not only on the power-law exponent of the degree distribution but also on a geometric model parameter. We apply this result to characterize robustness of age-based spatial preferential attachment networks.
Consider an independent site percolation model on $\Z^d,\ d\geq 2$, with parameter $p \in (0,1)$, where there are only nearest neighbor bonds and long range bonds of length $k$ parallel to some coordinate axis. We show that the percolation probability is a non-decreasing function of $k$. We also generalize this result for models whose long range bonds have several lengths.
We study a general class of percolation models in Euclidean space including long-range percolation, scale-free percolation, the weight-dependent random connection model and several other previously investigated models. Our focus is on the weak decay regime, in which inter-cluster long-range connection probabilities fall off polynomially with small exponent, and for which we establish several structural properties. Chief among them are the continuity of the bond percolation function and the transience of infinite clusters.
Consider critical site percolation on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ with $d \geq 2$. We prove a lower bound of order $n^{- d^2}$ for point-to-point connection probabilities, where $n$ is the distance between the points. Most of the work in our proof concerns a `construction' which finally reduces the problem to a topological one. This is then solved by applying a topological fact, which follows from Brouwer's fixed point theorem. Our bound improves the lower bound with exponent $2 d (d-1)$, used by Cerf in 2015 to obtain an upper bound for the so-called two-arm probabilities. Apart from being of interest in …
We consider a weighted random walk on the backbone of an oriented percolation cluster. We determine necessary conditions on the weights for Brownian scaling limits under the annealed and the quenched law. This model is a random walk in dynamic random environment (RWDRE), where the environment is mixing, non-Markovian and not elliptic. We provide a generalization of results obtained previously by Birkner et al. (2013).
On a large finite connected graph let edges $e$ become "open" at independent random Exponential times of arbitrary rates $w_e$. Under minimal assumptions, the time at which a giant component starts to emerge is weakly concentrated around its mean.
We consider the supercritical finite-range random connection model where the points $x,y$ of a homogeneous planar Poisson process are connected with probability $f(|y-x|)$ for a given $f$. Performing percolation on the resulting graph, we show that the critical probabilities for site and bond percolation satisfy the strict inequality $p_c^{\rm site} > p_c^{\rm bond}$. We also show that reducing the connection function $f$ strictly increases the critical Poisson intensity. Finally, we deduce that performing a spreading transformation on $f$ (thereby allowing connections over greater distances b…
The fourfold research proposal regards in particular: critical oriented percolation; random walk limit laws; neural networks with long-range connections; the ant in a labyrinth.
We consider the first-passage percolation problem on effectively one-dimensional graphs with vertex set {1,...,n}\times{0,1} and translation-invariant edge-structure. For three of six non-trivial cases we obtain exact expressions for the asymptotic percolation rate χ by solving certain recursive distributional equations and invoking results from ergodic theory to identify χ as the expected asymptotic one-step growth of the first-passage time from (0,0) to (n,0).
We study asymptotic percolation as $N\to \infty$ in an infinite random graph ${\cal G}_N$ embedded in the hierarchical group of order $N$, with connection probabilities depending on an ultrametric distance between vertices. ${\cal G}_N$ is structured as a cascade of finite random subgraphs of (approximate) Erdös-Renyi type. We give a criterion for percolation, and show that percolation takes place along giant components of giant components at the previous level in the cascade of subgraphs for all consecutive hierarchical distances. The proof involves a hierarchy of random graphs with vertices …
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 $O(N^{1-γ^2/10^3})$.
Two vertices are said to be finitely connected if they belong to the same cluster and this cluster is finite. We derive sharp asymptotics for finite connection probabilities for supercritical Bernoulli bond percolation on Z^2.
Let $G_{n,p}^1$ be a superposition of the random graph $G_{n,p}$ and a one-dimensional lattice: the $n$ vertices are set to be on a ring with fixed edges between the consecutive vertices, and with random independent edges given with probability $p$ between any pair of vertices. Bootstrap percolation on a random graph is a process of spread of "activation" on a given realisation of the graph with a given number of initially active nodes. At each step those vertices which have not been active but have at least $r \geq 2$ active neighbours become active as well. We study the size of the final act…
A range of first-passage percolation type models are believed to demonstrate the related properties of sublinear variance and superdiffusivity. We show that directed last-passage percolation with Gaussian vertex weights has a sublinear variance property. We also consider other vertex weight distributions. Corresponding results are obtained for the ground state of the `directed polymers in a random environment' model.
We study the random geometry of first passage percolation on the complete graph equipped with independent and identically distributed edge weights, continuing the program initiated by Bhamidi and van der Hofstad [9]. We describe our results in terms of a sequence of parameters $(s_n)_{n\geq 1}$ that quantifies the extreme-value behavior of small weights, and that describes different universality classes for first passage percolation on the complete graph. We consider both $n$-independent as well as $n$-dependent edge weights. The simplest example consists of edge weights of the form $E^{s_n}$,…
This paper is a survey of various results and techniques in first passage percolation, a random process modeling a spreading fluid on an infinite graph. The latter half of the paper focuses on the connection between first passage percolation and a certain class of stochastic growth and competition models.
We study the effects of mobility on two crucial characteristics in multi-scale dynamic networks: percolation and connection times. Our analysis provides insights into the question, to what extent long-time averages are well-approximated by the expected values of the corresponding quantities, i.e., the percolation and connection probabilities. In particular, we show that in multi-scale models, strong random effects may persist in the limit. Depending on the precise model choice, these may take the form of a spatial birth-death process or a Brownian motion. Despite the variety of structures that…
In this paper we establish a connection between epidemic models on random networks with general infection times considered in Barbour and Reinert 2013 and first passage percolation. Using techniques developed in Bhamidi, van der Hofstad, Hooghiemstra 2012, when each vertex has infinite contagious periods, we extend results on the epidemic curve in Barbour Reinert 2013 from bounded degree graphs to general sparse random graphs with degrees having finite third moments as the number of vertices tends to infinity. We also study the epidemic trail between the source and typical vertices in the grap…
We exploit a connection between distances in the infinite percolation cluster, when the parameter is close to one, and the discrete-time TASEP on $\mathbb{Z}$. This shows that when the parameter goes to one, large balls in the cluster are asymptotically shaped near the axes like arcs of parabola.
We study first-passage percolation through related optimization problems over paths of restricted length. The path length variable is in duality with a shift of the weights. This puts into a convex duality framework old observations about the convergence of the normalized Euclidean length of geodesics due to Hammersley and Welsh, Smythe and Wierman, and Kesten, and leads to new results about geodesic length and the regularity of the shape function as a function of the weight shift. For points far enough away from the origin, the ratio of the geodesic length and the $\ell^1$ distance to the end…
A large and sparse random graph with independent exponentially distributed link weights can be used to model the propagation of messages or diseases in a network with an unknown connectivity structure. In this article we study an extended setting where also the nodes of the graph are equipped with nonnegative random weights which are used to model the effect of boundary delays across paths in the network. Our main results provide approximative formulas for typical first passage times, typical flooding times, and maximum flooding times in the extended setting, over a time scale logarithmic with…
We prove a local limit theorem for the probability of a site to be connected by disjoint paths to three points in subcritical Bernoulli percolation on $\mathbb{Z}^{d},\,d\geq2$ in the limit where their distances tend to infinity.
We use the connection between bond percolation and SIR epidemics to establish lower bounds for the critical percolation probability in $2$ and $3$ dimensions as the range becomes large. The bound agrees with the conjectured asymptotics for the long range critical probability, refines results of M. Penrose, and complements results of van der Hofstad and Sakai in dimensions greater than $6$.
We consider first passage percolation with i.i.d. weights on edges of the d-dimensional cubic lattice. Under the assumptions that a weight is equal to zero with probability smaller than the critical probability of bond percolation in the d-dimensional cubic lattice, and has moments bigger than 1, we investigate upper bounds on the so-called non-random fluctuations of the model. In addition, we give an application of our result to a lower bound for variance of the first passage percolation in the case where the limit shape has flat edges.
We consider generic finite range percolation models on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ under a high temperature assumption (exponential decay of connection probabilities and exponential ratio weak mixing). We prove that the rate of decay of point-to-point connections exists in every directions and show that it naturally extends to a norm on $\mathbb{R}^d$. This result is the base input to obtain fine understanding of the high temperature phase and is usually proven using correlation inequalities (such as FKG). The present work makes no use of such model specific properties.
We introduce a continuum percolation model defined on the points of a d-dimensional homogeneous Poisson process. Each Poisson point is connected to all points within its connection range, which depends on the distances to the other Poisson points. We show that the new model exhibits a phase transition, and obtain results about the critical values in low and high dimensions.
We show non-existence of non-trivial bi-infinite geodesics in the solvable last-passage percolation model with i.i.d. geometric weights. This gives the first example of a model with discrete weights where non-existence of non-trivial bi-infinite geodesics has been proven. Our proofs rely on the structure of the increment-stationary versions of the model, following the approach recently introduced by Balázs, Busani, and Seppäläinen. Most of our results work for a general weights distribution and we identify the two properties of the stationary distributions which would need to be shown in order…
We consider a last-passage directed percolation model in $Z_+^2$, with i.i.d. weights whose common distribution has a finite $(2+p)$th moment. We study the fluctuations of the passage time from the origin to the point $\big(n,n^{\lfloor a \rfloor}\big)$. We show that, for suitable $a$ (depending on $p$), this quantity, appropriately scaled, converges in distribution as $n\to\infty$ to the Tracy-Widom distribution, irrespective of the underlying weight distribution. The argument uses a coupling to a Brownian directed percolation problem and the strong approximation of Komlós, Major and Tusnády.
We prove that for Voronoi percolation on $\mathbb{R}^d$, there exists $p_c\in[0,1]$ such that - for $p<p_c$, there exists $c_p>0$ such that $\mathbb{P}_p[0\text{ connected to distance }n]\leq \exp(-c_p n)$, - there exists $c>0$ such that for $p>p_c$, $\mathbb{P}_p[0\text{ connected to }\infty]\geq c(p-p_c)$. For dimension 2, this result offers a new way of showing that $p_c(2)=1/2$. This paper belongs to a series of papers using the theory of algorithms to prove sharpness of the phase transition.
The sequence of random probability measures $ν_n$ that gives a path of length $n$, $\unsur{n}$ times the sum of the random weights collected along the paths, is shown to satisfy a large deviations principle with good rate function the Legendre transform of the free energy of the associated directed polymer in a random environment. Consequences on the asymptotics of the typical number of paths whose collected weight is above a fixed proportion are then drawn.
We study the random geometry of first passage percolation on the complete graph equipped with independent and identically distributed edge weights, continuing the program initiated by Bhamidi and van der Hofstad [6]. We describe our results in terms of a sequence of parameters $(s_n)_{n\geq 1}$ that quantifies the extreme-value behavior of small weights, and that describes different universality classes for first passage percolation on the complete graph. We consider both $n$-independent as well as $n$-dependent edge weights. The simplest example consists of edge weights of the form $E^{s_n}$,…
We study phase transition and percolation at criticality for three random graph models on the plane, viz., the homogeneous and inhomogeneous enhanced random connection models (RCM) and the Poisson stick model. These models are built on a homogeneous Poisson point process $\mathcal{P}_λ$ in $\mathbb{R}^2$ of intensity $λ$. In the homogenous RCM, the vertices at $x,y$ are connected with probability $g(|x-y|)$, independent of everything else, where $g:[0,\infty) \to [0,1]$ and $| \cdot |$ is the Euclidean norm. In the inhomogenous version of the model, points of $\mathcal{P}_λ$ are endowed with w…
Consider an independent site percolation model on $\Z^d$, with parameter $p \in (0,1)$, where all long range connections in the axes directions are allowed. In this work we show that given any parameter $p$, there exists and integer $K(p)$ such that all binary sequences (words) $ξ\in \{0,1\}^{\N}$ can be seen simultaneously, almost surely, even if all connections whose length is bigger than $K(p)$ are suppressed. We also show some results concerning the question how $K(p)$ should scale with $p$ when $p$ goes to zero. Related results are also obtained for the question of whether or not almost a…
We study the complete graph equipped with a topology induced by independent and identically distributed edge weights. The focus of our analysis is on the weight W_n and the number of edges H_n of the minimal weight path between two distinct vertices in the weak disorder regime. We establish novel and simple first and second moment methods using path counting to derive first order asymptotics for the considered quantities. Our results are stated in terms of a sequence of parameters (s_n) that quantifies the extreme-value behaviour of the edge weights, and that describes different universality c…
Consider random sequential adsorption on a chequerboard lattice with arrivals at rate $1$ on light squares and at rate $λ$ on dark squares. Ultimately, each square is either occupied, or blocked by an occupied neighbour. Colour the occupied dark squares and blocked light sites {\em black}, and the remaining squares {\em white}. Independently at each meeting-point of four squares, allow diagonal connections between black squares with probability $p$; otherwise allow diagonal connections between white squares. We show that there is a critical surface of pairs $(λ, p)$, containing the pair $(1,0.…
We consider directed last-passage percolation on the random graph G = (V,E) where V = Z and each edge (i,j), for i < j, is present in E independently with some probability 0 < p <= 1. To every present edge (i,j) we attach i.i.d. random weights v_{i,j} > 0. We are interested in the behaviour of w_{0,n}, which is the maximum weight of all directed paths from 0 to n, as n tends to infinity. We see two very different types of behaviour, depending on whether E[v_{i,j}^2] is finite or infinite. In the case where E[v_{i,j}^2] is finite we show that the process has a certain regenerative structure, an…
We analyze the geometrical structure of the passage times in the last passage percolation model. Viewing the passage time as a piecewise linear function of the weights we determine the domains of the various pieces, which are the subsets of the weight space that make a given path the longest one. We focus on the case when all weights are assumed to be positive, and as a result each domain is a pointed polyhedral cone. We determine the extreme rays, facets, and two-dimensional faces of each cone, and also review a well-known simplicial decomposition of the maximal cones via the so-called order …
Invasion percolation is a stochastic growth model that follows a greedy algorithm. After assigning i.i.d. uniform random variables (weights) to all edges of $\mathbb{Z}^d$, the growth starts at the origin. At each step, we adjoin to the current cluster the edge of minimal weight from its boundary. In '85, Chayes-Chayes-Newman studied the `acceptance profile' of the invasion: for a given $p \in [0,1]$, it is the ratio of the expected number of invaded edges until time $n$ with weight in $[p,p+\text{d}p]$ to the expected number of observed edges (those in the cluster or its boundary) with weight…
We consider the first passage percolation model on the square lattice with an edge weight distribution F. In this paper, we consider the number of optimal paths for two points separated by a long distance. We show that there is a phase transition in the sub-criticality and the criticality.
To each edge (i,j), i<j of the complete directed graph on the integers we assign unit weight with probability p or weight x with probability 1-p, independently from edge to edge, and give to each path weight equal to the sum of its edge weights. If W^x_{0,n} is the maximum weight of all paths from 0 to n then W^x_{0,n}/n \to C_p(x), as n\to\infty, almost surely, where C_p(x) is positive and deterministic. We study C_p(x) as a function of x, for fixed 0<p<1 and show that it is a strictly increasing convex function that is not differentiable if and only if x is a nonpositive rational or a positi…
We consider directed first-passage and last-passage percolation on the nonnegative lattice Z_+^d, d\geq2, with i.i.d. weights at the vertices. Under certain moment conditions on the common distribution of the weights, the limits g(x)=lim_{n\to\infty}n^{-1}T(\lfloor nx\rfloor) exist and are constant a.s. for x\in R_+^d, where T(z) is the passage time from the origin to the vertex z\in Z_+^d. We show that this shape function g is continuous on R_+^d, in particular at the boundaries. In two dimensions, we give more precise asymptotics for the behavior of g near the boundaries; these asymptotics d…
In first-passage percolation (FPP), one assigns i.i.d.~weights to the edges of the cubic lattice $\mathbb{Z}^d$ and analyzes the induced weighted graph metric. If $T(x,y)$ is the distance between vertices $x$ and $y$, then a primary question in the model is: what is the order of the fluctuations of $T(0,x)$? It is expected that the variance of $T(0,x)$ grows like the norm of $x$ to a power strictly less than 1, but the best lower bounds available are (only in two dimensions) of order $\log \|x\|$. This result was found in the '90s and there has not been any improvement since. In this paper, we…
We consider the model of i.i.d. first passage percolation on Z^d, where we associate with the edges of the graph a family of i.i.d. random variables with common distribution G on [0, +$\infty$] (including +$\infty$). Whereas the time constant is associated to the study of 1-dimensional paths with minimal weight, namely geodesics, the flow constant is associated to the study of (d--1)-dimensional surfaces with minimal weight. In this article, we investigate the existence of the flow constant under the only hypothesis that G({+$\infty$}) < p c (d) (in particular without any moment assumption), t…
We investigate first passage percolation on inhomogeneous random graphs. The random graph model G(n,kappa) we study is the model introduced by Bollobás, Janson and Riordan, where each vertex has a type from a type space S and edge probabilities are independent, but depending on the types of the end vertices. Each edge is given an independent exponential weight. We determine the distribution of the weight of the shortest path between uniformly chosen vertices in the giant component and show that the hopcount, i.e. the number of edges on this minimal weight path, properly normalized follows a ce…
In this paper we prove a duality relation between coalescence times and exit points in last-passage percolation models with exponential weights. As a consequence, we get lower bounds for coalescence times with scaling exponent 3/2, and we relate its distribution with variational problems involving the Brownian motion process and the Airy process.
We study Bernoulli bond percolation on a random recursive tree of size $n$ with percolation parameter $p(n)$ converging to $1$ as $n$ tends to infinity. The sizes of the percolation clusters are naturally stored in a tree. We prove convergence in distribution of this tree to the genealogical tree of a continuous-state branching process in discrete time. As a corollary we obtain the asymptotic sizes of the largest and next largest percolation clusters, extending thereby a recent work of Bertoin (2014) which deals with cluster sizes in the supercritical regime. In a second part, we show that the…
In invasion percolation, the edges of successively maximal weight (the outlets) divide the invasion cluster into a chain of ponds separated by outlets. On the regular tree, the ponds are shown to grow exponentially, with law of large numbers, central limit theorem and large deviation results. The tail asymptotics for a fixed pond are also studied and are shown to be related to the asymptotics of a critical percolation cluster, with a logarithmic correction.
