Characteristic exponents for two-dimensional bootstrap percolation (Q686775)

The dynamical system which is the cellular automaton \(\eta_ n(x)\) on \(Z^ 2\) is studied. The evolution of the system at the time moments \(n=0,1,2,\dots\) is described by means of the following rule: A necessary and sufficient condition for \(\eta_{n+1}(x)=0\) is that either \(\eta_ n(x-e_ 1)=\eta_ n(x)=\eta_ n(x+e_ 1)=0\) or \(\eta_ n(x-e_ 2)=\eta_ n(x)=\eta_ n(x+e_ 2)=0\), where \(\{e_ 1,e_ 2\}\) is the canonical basis of \(R^ 2\). This evolution is deterministic and irreversible. The evolution process of the system from random initial states \(\eta_ 0(x)\), \(x\in Z^ 2\), is investigated. The states are distributed as Bernoulli lattice random field with parameter \(p\in[0,1]\). It is known that there exist \(C>0\), \(\gamma>0\) such that \[ P_ p(T\geq n)\leq C\exp(-\gamma n), \] where \(T=\inf\{n\geq 0:\eta_ n(0)=1\}\) and \(P_ p\) is the corresponding Bernoulli probability measure. The ``low- density'' limit \(p\to 0\) for quantity \[ \gamma(p)=\sup\{\gamma>0:\exists C>0\;\forall n(P_ p(T\geq n)\leq C\exp(-\gamma n))\} \] is considered. The main result of the paper is \[ \limsup_{p\downarrow 0}(\log\gamma(p)/\log(p))\leq 2. \] A new critical exponent \(\overline\nu\) is introduced. Let \(N(L,p)=P_ p([0,L]\times[0,L]\) is internally spanned) and \[ \overline\gamma(p)=\sup\{\gamma>0:\exists C>0\;\forall L\geq 0 (1-N(L,p)\leq C\exp(-\gamma L))\}. \] The exponent \(\overline\nu\) is defined by the formula \[ \overline\nu=\lim_{p\downarrow 0}(\log\overline\gamma(p)/\log(p)). \] An existence theorem of the exponent \(\overline\nu\) has been proved.