# Critical scaling for an anisotropic percolation system on $\mathbb{Z}^2$

## TL;DR

This paper investigates the phase transition behavior of an anisotropic percolation model on 2, showing how the percolation threshold depends on the scaling of vertical connection probability with horizontal range.

## Contribution

It establishes a precise phase transition criterion for anisotropic percolation with horizontal and vertical edges, revealing a different scaling exponent than previously conjectured.

## Key findings

- Percolation occurs when 2 exceeds a threshold depending on 2 and 2.
- No percolation when 2 is below a certain constant.
- The critical vertical connection probability scales as N^{-2/5}.

## Abstract

In this article, we consider an anisotropic finite-range bond percolation model on $\mathbb{Z}^2$. On each horizontal layer $\{(x,i): x \in \mathbb{Z}\}$ we have edges $\langle(x, i),(y, i)\rangle$ for $1 \leq |x - y| \leq N$. There are also vertical edges connecting two nearest neighbor vertices on distinct layers $\langle(x, i), (x, i+1)\rangle$ for $x, i \in\mathbb{Z}$. On this graph we consider the following anisotropic independent percolation model: horizontal edges are open with probability $1/(2N)$, while vertical edges are open with probability $\epsilon$ to be suitably tuned as $N$ grows to infinity. The main result tells that if $\epsilon=\kappa N^{-2/5}$, we see a phase transition in $\kappa$: positive and finite constants $C_1, C_2$ exist so that there is no percolation if $\kappa < C_1$ while percolation occurs for $\kappa > C_2$. The question is motivated by a result on the analogous layered ferromagnetic Ising model at mean field critical temperature [J. Stat. Phys. (2015), 161, 91-123] where the authors showed the existence of multiple Gibbs measures for a fixed value of the vertical interaction and conjectured a change of behavior in $\kappa$ when the vertical interaction suitably vanishes as $\kappa\gamma^b$, where $1/\gamma$ is the range of the horizontal interaction. For the product percolation model we have a value of $b$ that differs from what was conjectured in that paper. The proof relies on the analysis of the scaling limit of the critical branching random walk that dominates the growth process restricted to each horizontal layer and a careful analysis of the true horizontal growth process. This is inspired by works on the long range contact process [Probab. Th. Rel. Fields (1995), 102, 519-545]. A renormalization scheme is used for the percolative regime.