Differentiability at the edge of the percolation cone and related results in first-passage percolation (Q1955839)

The authors considered i.i.d. first-passage percolation on \(\mathbb{Z}^2\). It is shown that, for each measure \(\mu\) on the passage times, the boundary of the limit shape for \(\mu\) is differentiable at the endpoints of flat edges in the so-called percolation cone. It is concluded that the limit shape must be non-polygonal for all of these measures. First-passage percolation is closely related to growth and competition models. The associated Richardson-type growth model admits infinite coexistence, and, if \(\mu\) is not purely atomic, the graph of infection has infinitely many ends. It is shown that lower bounds for fluctuations of the passage time given by Newman-Piza extend to these measures. A lower bound is established for the variance of the passage time to distance \(n\) of order \(\log n\) in any direction outside the percolation cone under the condition of finite exponential moments for \(\mu\).