An important conjecture in percolation theory is that almost surely no infinite cluster exists in critical percolation on any transitive graph for which the critical probability is less than 1. Earlier work has established this for the amenable cases Z^2 and Z^d for large d, as well as for all non-amenable graphs with unimodular automorphism groups. We show that the conjecture holds for the basic classes of non-amenable graphs with non-unimodular automorphism groups: for decorated trees and the non-unimodular Diestel-Leader graphs. We also show that the connection probability between two vertices decay exponentially in their distance. Finally, we prove that critical percolation on the positive part of the lamplighter group has no infinite clusters.
We construct an example of a bounded degree, nonamenable, unimodular random rooted graph with $p_c=p_u$ for Bernoulli bond percolation, as well as an example of a bounded degree, unimodular random rooted graph with $p_c<1$ but with an infinite cluster at criticality. These examples show that two well-known conjectures of Benjamini and Schramm are false when generalised from transitive graphs to unimodular random rooted graphs.
We investigate generalisations of the classical percolation critical probabilities $p_c$, $p_T$ and the critical probability $\tilde{p_c}$ defined by Duminil-Copin and Tassion (2015) to bounded degree unimodular random graphs. We further examine Schramm's conjecture in the case of unimodular random graphs: does $p_c(G_n)$ converge to $p_c(G)$ if $G_n\to G$ in the local weak sense? Among our results are the following: 1. $p_c=\tilde{p_c}$ holds for bounded degree unimodular graphs. However, there are unimodular graphs with sub-exponential volume growth and $p_T < p_c$; i.e., the classical sharp…
We extend some of the fundamental results about percolation on unimodular nonamenable graphs to nonunimodular graphs. We show that they cannot have infinitely many infinite clusters at critical Bernoulli percolation. In the case of heavy clusters, this result has already been established, but it also follows from one of our results. We give a general necessary condition for nonunimodular graphs to have a phase with infinitely many heavy clusters. We present an invariant spanning tree with $p_c=1$ on some nonunimodular graph. Such trees cannot exist for nonamenable unimodular graphs. We show a …
We prove that every amenable one-ended Cayley graph has an invariant spanning tree of one end. More generally, for any 1-ended amenable unimodular random graph we construct a factor of iid percolation (jointly unimodular subgraph) that is almost surely a spanning tree of one end. In [2] and [1] similar claims were proved, but the resulting spanning tree had 1 or 2 ends, and one had no control of which of these two options would be the case.
We investigate unimodular random networks. Our motivations include their characterization via reversibility of an associated random walk and their similarities to unimodular quasi-transitive graphs. We extend various theorems concerning random walks, percolation, spanning forests, and amenability from the known context of unimodular quasi-transitive graphs to the more general context of unimodular random networks. We give properties of a trace associated to unimodular random networks with applications to stochastic comparison of continuous-time random walk.
We consider unimodular random rooted trees (URTs) and invariant forests in Cayley graphs. We show that URTs of bounded degree are the same as the law of the component of the root in an invariant percolation on a regular tree. We use this to give a new proof that URTs are sofic, a result of Elek. We show that ends of invariant forests in the hyperbolic plane converge to ideal boundary points. We also prove that uniform integrability of the degree distribution of a family of finite graphs implies tightness of that family for local convergence, also known as random weak convergence.
We consider Bernoulli percolation on a locally finite quasi-transitive unimodular graph and prove that two infinite clusters cannot have infinitely many pairs of vertices at distance 1 from one another or, in other words, that such graphs exhibit ``cluster repulsion.'' This partially answers a question of Häggström, Peres and Schonmann.
We prove that critical percolation has no infinite clusters almost surely on any unimodular quasi-transitive graph satisfying a return probability upper bound of the form $p_n(v,v) \leq \exp\left[-Ω(n^γ)\right]$ for some $γ>1/2$. The result is new in the case that the graph is of intermediate volume growth.
We study branching random walks on Cayley graphs. A first result is that the trace of a transient branching random walk on a Cayley graph is a.s. transient for the simple random walk. In addition, it has a.s. critical percolation probability less than one and exponential volume growth. The proofs rely on the fact that the trace induces an invariant percolation on the family tree of the branching random walk. Furthermore, we prove that the trace is a.s. strongly recurrent for any (non-trivial) branching random walk. This follows from the observation that the trace, after appropriate biasing of …
The main goal of this paper is to answer question 1.10 and settle conjecture 1.11 of Benjamini-Lyons-Schramm [BLS99] relating harmonic Dirichlet functions on a graph to those of the infinite clusters in the uniqueness phase of Bernoulli percolation. We extend the result to more general invariant percolations, including the Random-Cluster model. We prove the existence of the nonuniqueness phase for the Bernoulli percolation (and make some progress for Random-Cluster model) on unimodular transitive locally finite graphs admitting nonconstant harmonic Dirichlet functions. This is done by using th…
Bounds for the expected return probability of the delayed random walk on finite clusters of an invariant percolation on transitive unimodular graphs are derived. They are particularly suited for the case of critical Bernoulli percolation and the associated heavy-tailed cluster size distributions. The upper bound relies on the fact that cartesian products of finite graphs with cycles of a certain minimal size are Hamiltonian. For critical Bernoulli bond percolation on the homogeneous tree this bound is sharp. The asymptotic type of the expected return probability for large times t in this case …
A comparison technique for finite random walks on finite graphs is introduced, using the well-known interlacing method. It yields improved return probability bounds. A key feature is the incorporation of parts of the spectrum of the transition matrix other than just the principal eigenvalue. As an application, an upper bound of the expected return probability of a random walk with symmetric transition probabilities is found. In this case, the state space is a random partial graph of a regular graph of bounded geometry and transitive automorphism group. The law of the random edge-set is assumed…
We study the spectrum of adjacency matrices of random graphs. We develop two techniques to lower bound the mass of the continuous part of the spectral measure or the density of states. As an application, we prove that the spectral measure of bond percolation in the two dimensional lattice contains a non-trivial continuous part in the supercritical regime. The same result holds for the limiting spectral measure of a supercritical Erdos-Renyi graph and for the spectral measure of a unimodular random tree with at least two ends. We give examples of random graphs with purely continuous spectrum.
This paper is an up-to-date introduction to the problem of uniqueness versus non-uniqueness of infinite clusters for percolation on ${\mathbb{Z}}^d$ and, more generally, on transitive graphs. For iid percolation on ${\mathbb{Z}}^d$, uniqueness of the infinite cluster is a classical result, while on certain other transitive graphs uniqueness may fail. Key properties of the graphs in this context turn out to be amenability and nonamenability. The same problem is considered for certain dependent percolation models -- most prominently the Fortuin--Kasteleyn random-cluster model -- and in situation…
We prove existence of the scaling limit of the invasion percolation cluster (IPC) on a regular tree. The limit is a random real tree with a single end. The contour and height functions of the limit are described as certain diffusive stochastic processes. This convergence allows us to recover and make precise certain asymptotic results for the IPC. In particular, we relate the limit of the rescaled level sets of the IPC to the local time of the scaled height function.
In this thesis, the main objects of study are probability measures on the isomorphism classes of countable, connected rooted graphs. An important class of such measures is formed by unimodular measures, which satisfy a certain equation, sometimes referred to as the intrinsic mass transport principle. The so-called law of a finite graph is an example of a unimodular measure. We say that a measure is sustained by a countable graph if the set of rooted connected components of the graph has full measure. We demonstrate several new results involving sustained unimodular measures, and provide thorou…
We consider different problems within the general theme of long-range percolation on oriented graphs. Our aim is to settle the so-called truncation question, described as follows. We are given probabilities that certain long-range oriented bonds are open; assuming that the sum of these probabilities is infinite, we ask if the probability of percolation is positive when we truncate the graph, disallowing bonds of range above a possibly large but finite threshold. We give some conditions in which the answer is affirmative. We also translate some of our results on oriented percolation to the cont…
A simple lemma bounds $\mathrm{s.d.}(T)/\mathbb{E} T$ for hitting times $T$ in Markov chains with a certain strong monotonicity property. We show how this lemma may be applied to several increasing set-valued processes. Our main result concerns a model of first passage percolation on a finite graph, where the traversal times of edges are independent Exponentials with arbitrary rates. Consider the percolation time $X$ between two arbitrary vertices. We prove that $\mathrm{s.d.}(X)/\mathbb{E} X$ is small if and only if $Ξ/\mathbb{E} X$ is small, where $Ξ$ is the maximal edge-traversal time in th…
We consider some problems related to the truncation question in long-range percolation. It is given probabilities that certain long-range oriented bonds are open; assuming that this probabilities are not summable, we ask if the probability of percolation is positive when we truncate the graph, disallowing bonds of range above a possibly large but finite threshold. This question is still open if the set of vertices is $\Z^2$. We give some conditions in which the answer is affirmative. One of these results generalize the previous result in [Alves, Hilário, de Lima, Valesin, Journ. Stat. Phys. {\…
We prove absence of infinite clusters and contours in a class of critical constrained percolation models on the square lattice. The percolation configuration is assumed to satisfy certain hard local constraints, but only weak symmetry and ergodicity conditions are imposed on its law. The proofs use new combinatorial techniques exploiting planar duality. Applications include absence of infinite clusters of diagonal edges for critical dimer models on the square-octagon lattice, as well as absence of infinite contours and infinite clusters for critical XOR Ising models on the square grid. We also…
Using the randomized algorithm method developed by Duminil-Copin, Raoufi and Tassion (2019b), we exhibit sharp phase transition for the confetti percolation model. This provides an alternate proof, than that of Ahlberg, Tassion and Texeira (2018), for the critical parameter for percolation in this model to be $1/2$ when the radius of the underlying shapes for the distinct colours arise from the same distribution. In addition, we study the covered area fraction for this model, which is akin to the covered volume fraction in continuum percolation. Modulo a certain `transitivity condition', this …
We consider invasion percolation on the randomly-weighted complete graph $K_n$, started from some number $k(n)$ of distinct source vertices. The outcome of the process is a forest consisting of $k(n)$ trees, each containing exactly one source. Let $M_n$ be the size of the largest tree in this forest. Logan, Molloy and Pralat (arXiv:1806.10975) proved that if $k(n)/n^{1/3} \to 0$ then $M_n/n \to 1$ in probability. In this paper we prove a complementary result: if $k(n)/n^{1/3} \to \infty$ then $M_n/n \to 0$ in probability. This establishes the existence of a phase transition in the structure of…
We study an interacting particle system in which moving particles activate dormant particles linked by the components of critical bond percolation. Addressing a conjecture from Beckman, Dinan, Durrett, Huo, and Junge for a continuous variant, we prove that the process can reach infinity in finite time i.e., explode. In particular, we prove that explosions occur almost surely on regular trees as well as oriented and unoriented two-dimensional integer lattices with sufficiently many particles per site. The oriented case requires an additional hypothesis about the existence and value of a certain…
We prove that there exist natural generalizations of the classical bootstrap percolation model on $\mathbb{Z}^2$ that have non-trivial critical probabilities, and moreover we characterize all homogeneous, local, monotone models with this property. Van Enter (in the case $d=r=2$) and Schonmann (for all $d \geq r \geq 2$) proved that $r$-neighbour bootstrap percolation models have trivial critical probabilities on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ for every choice of the parameters $d \geq r \geq 2$: that is, an initial set of density $p$ almost surely percolates $\mathbb{Z}^d$ for every $p>0$. These results effec…
We give an example of a long range Bernoulli percolation process on a group non-quasi-isometric with $\mathbb{Z}$, in which clusters are almost surely finite for all values of the parameter. This random graph admits diverse equivalent definitions, and we study their ramifications. We also study its expected size and point out certain phase transitions.
In this paper we continue our earlier work about topological first passage percolation and answer certain questions asked in our previous paper. Notably, we prove that apart from trivialities, in the generic configuration there exists exactly one geodesic ray, in the sense that we consider two geodesic rays distinct if they only share a finite number of edges. Moreover, we show that in the generic configuration any not too small and not too large convex set arises as the limit of a sequence $\frac{B(t_n)}{t_n}$ for some $(t_n)\to\infty$. Finally, we define topological Hilbert first passage per…
Around 2008, Schramm conjectured that the critical probabilities for Bernoulli bond percolation satisfy the following continuity property: If $(G_n)_{n\geq 1}$ is a sequence of transitive graphs converging locally to a transitive graph $G$ and $\limsup_{n\to\infty} p_c(G_n) < 1$, then $ p_c(G_n)\to p_c(G)$ as $n\to\infty$. We verify this conjecture under the additional hypothesis that there is a uniform exponential lower bound on the volume growth of the graphs in question. The result is new even in the case that the sequence of graphs is uniformly nonamenable. In the unimodular case, this res…
Given $ω\ge 1$, let $Z^2_{(ω)}$ be the graph with vertex set $Z^2$ in which two vertices are joined if they agree in one coordinate and differ by at most $ω$ in the other. (Thus $Z^2_{(1)}$ is precisely $Z^2$.) Let $p_c(ω)$ be the critical probability for site percolation in $Z^2_{(ω)}$. Extending recent results of Frieze, Kleinberg, Ravi and Debany, we show that $\lim_{ω\to\infty} ω\pc(ω)=\log(3/2)$. We also prove analogues of this result on the $n$-by-$n$ grid and in higher dimensions, the latter involving interesting connections to Gilbert's continuum percolation model. To prove our results…
We define a graph process $\mathcal{G}(p,q)$ based on a discrete branching process with deletions and mergers, which is inspired by the 4-cycle structure of both the hypercube $Q_d$ and the lattice $\mathbb{Z}^d$ for large $d$. Individuals have Poisson offspring distribution with mean $1+p$ and certain deletions and mergers occur with probability $q$; these parameters correspond to the mean number of edges discovered from a given vertex in an exploration of a percolation cluster and to the probability that a non-backtracking path of length four closes a cycle, respectively. We prove survival a…
It was argued by Schramm and Smirnov that the critical site percolation exploration path on the triangular lattice converges in distribution to the trace of chordal SLE(6). We provide here a detailed proof, which relies on Smirnov's theorem that crossing probabilities have a conformally invariant scaling limit (given by Cardy's formula). The version of convergence to SLE(6) that we prove suffices for the Smirnov-Werner derivation of certain critical percolation crossing exponents and for our analysis of the critical percolation full scaling limit as a process of continuum nonsimple loops.
We consider a type of dependent percolation introduced by Aizenman and Grimmett, who showed that certain "enhancements" of independent (Bernoulli) percolation, called essential, make the percolation critical probability strictly smaller. In this paper we first prove that, for two-dimensional enhancements with a natural monotonicity property, being essential is also a necessary condition to shift the critical point. We then show that (some) critical exponents and the scaling limit of crossing probabilities of a two-dimensional percolation process are unchanged if the process is subjected to a m…
We use isoperimetric inequalities combined with a new technique to prove upper bounds for the site percolation threshold of plane graphs with given minimum degree conditions. In the process we prove tight new isoperimetric bounds for certain classes of hyperbolic graphs. This establishes the vertex isoperimetric constant for all triangular and square hyperbolic lattices, answering a question of Lyons and Peres. We prove that plane graphs of minimum degree at least $7$ have site percolation threshold bounded away from $1/2$, which was conjectured by Benjamini and Schramm, and make progress on a…
Separated-occurrence inequalities are variants for dependent lattice models of the van den Berg-Kesten inequality for independent models. They take the form $P(A \circ_r B) \leq (1 + ce^{-εr})P(A)P(B)$, where $A \circ_r B$ is the event that $A$ and $B$ occur at separation $r$ in a configuration $ω$, that is, there exist two random sets of bonds or sites separated by at least distance $r$, one set responsible for the occurrence of the event $A$ in $ω$, the other for the occurrence of $B$. We establish such inequalities for certain subcritical FK models, and for certain Ising models which are at…
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 $\ell<\ell_…
In an investigation of percolation on isoradial graphs, we prove the criticality of canonical bond percolation on isoradial embeddings of planar graphs, thus extending celebrated earlier results for homogeneous and inhomogeneous square, triangular, and other lattices. This is achieved via the star-triangle transformation, by transporting the box-crossing property across the family of isoradial graphs. As a consequence, we obtain the universality of these models at the critical point, in the sense that the one-arm and 2j-alternating-arm critical exponents (and therefore also the connectivity an…
Following the approach outlined in [26], convergence to SLE$_6$ of the Exploration Processes for the correlated bond-triangular type models studied in [11] is established. This puts the said models in the same universality class as the standard site percolation model on the triangular lattice [27]. In the context of these models, the result is proven for all domains with boundary Minkowski dimension less than two. Moreover, the proof of convergence applies in the context of general critical 2D percolation models and for general domains, under the stipulation that Cardy's Formula can be establi…
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…
