Self-avoiding walks crossing a square

Abstract: We study a restricted class of self-avoiding walks (SAW) which start at the origin (0, 0), end at

(L, L)

, and are entirely contained in the square

[0, L] i m e s [0, L]

on the square lattice

{m a t h b b Z}^{2}

. The number of distinct walks is known to grow as

l a m b d a^{L^{2} + o (L^{2})}

. We estimate

l a m b d a = 1.744550 p m 0.000005

as well as obtaining strict upper and lower bounds,

1.628 < l a m b d a < 1.782.

We give exact results for the number of SAW of length

2 L + 2 K

for

K = 0, 1, 2

and asymptotic results for

K = o (L^{1 / 3})

. We also consider the model in which a weight or {em fugacity}

x

is associated with each step of the walk. This gives rise to a canonical model of a phase transition. For

x < 1 / m u

the average length of a SAW grows as

L

, while for

x > 1 / m u

it grows as

L^{2}

. Here

m u

is the growth constant of unconstrained SAW in

{m a t h b b Z}^{2}

. For

x = 1 / m u

we provide numerical evidence, but no proof, that the average walk length grows as

L^{4 / 3}

. We also consider Hamiltonian walks under the same restriction. They are known to grow as

a u^{L^{2} + o (L^{2})}

on the same

L i m e s L

lattice. We give precise estimates for

a u

as well as upper and lower bounds, and prove that

a u < l a m b d a .

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