Strict monotonicity of percolation thresholds under covering maps (Q2189466)

In [\textit{I. Benjamini} and \textit{O. Schramm}, Electron. Commun. Probab. 1, 71--82 (1996; Zbl 0890.60091)], the inequality \(p_c({\mathcal G})\leq p_c({\mathcal G}/G)\) is proved for the critical Bernoulli percolation probabilities of a graph \({\mathcal G}\) with \(p_c({\mathcal G})<1\) and its quotient graph by a graph automorphism \(G\) acting freely under the assumption that both graphs are quasi-transitive. In this paper, it is shown that this inequality is in fact strict. Moreover, it is shown that this inequality is strict when the graphs are related by a weak covering map with uniformly non-trivial fibers and the disjoint tree-lifting property. A similar strict inequality is also proved for the critical probabilities of the uniqueness of the infinite cluster of quasi-transitive graphs. The proofs use an exploratory version of the enhancement technique of [\textit{M. Aizenman} and \textit{G. Grimmett}, ``Strict monotonicity for critical points in percolation and ferromagnetic models'', J. Stat. Phys. 63, 817--837 (1991; \url{doi:10.1007/BF01029985})].