Strict inequalities for the time constant in first passage percolation. (Q1872372)

For a probability measure \(F\) on \(\mathbb R^+\), consider the first-passage percolation model in \(\mathbb Z^d\) whose (edge) travel times are i.i.d.\ random variables with common distribution \(F\). If \(t(x,y)\) denotes the shortest travel time between sites \(x\) and \(y\), the limit \(\lim_{n\to\infty}t(0,nx)/n\) (with \(x\) being the unit vector in the lattice direction) is known to exist and is called the time constant \(\mu\). The paper discusses (strict) monotonicity properties of the time constant \(\mu\) with respect to a natural partial order on distributions \(F\). More precisely, let \(r=\inf\text{ supp}\,{F}\geq0\) be the minimum of the support of \(F\), and let \(p_c\) and \(\vec{p}_c\) stand for the critical probability for bond percolation and oriented bond percolation on \(\mathbb Z^d\), respectively. A result by \textit{J. van den Berg} and \textit{H. Kesten} [Ann. Appl. Probab. 3, 56--80 (1993; Zbl 0771.60092)] states that: if either 1) \(r=0\) and \(F(0)<p_c\) or 2) \(r>0\) and \(F(r)<\vec{p}_c\), then the time constant \(\mu\) is strictly monotone with respect to a certain partial order on distributions \(F\) of finite mean. In the present paper, the author shows, in dimension \(d=2\), that the previous result holds without the technical assumptions that \(F(r)<\vec{p}_c\) (if \(r>0\)) and that \(F\) has finite mean. The argument is based upon a natural renormalisation approach, which also gives a complete description of the flat edge of the ``asymptotic shape'' \(A\) in terms of the speed of the supercritical oriented percolation when \(F(r)\geq\vec{p}_c\).