The probability of survival for the biased voter model in a random environment (Q909369)

A biased voter model in a random environment in \({\mathbb{Z}}\) is studied. The influence of a nearest neighbour voter has a constant rate \(\lambda\), if one has opinion ``against'' and the neighboured voter opinion ``for'', but has i.i.d. rates at the different positions in the opposite case. Exponential decay of the survival probability is proved for \(\lambda\) converging to the critical value \(\lambda_ c\). There follows that the corresponding critical exponent \(\beta\) is \(\infty\), in contrast to nonrandom environment, where \(\beta =1\). The proof uses the random walks in random environments, performed by the left and right boundaries of the set of affirmative voters.