Catalan percolation

Abstract: In Catalan percolation, all nearest-neighbor edges ${i,i+1}$ along $\mathbb Z$ are initially occupied, and all other edges are open independently with probability $p$. Open edges ${i,j}$ are occupied if some pair of edges ${i,k}$ and ${k,j}$, with $i<k<j$, become occupied. This model was introduced by Gravner and the third author, in the context of polluted graph bootstrap percolation. We prove that the critical $p_{\mathrm c}$ is strictly between that of oriented site percolation on $\mathbb Z^2$ and the Catalan growth rate $1/4$. Our main result shows that an enhanced oriented percolation model, with non-decaying infinite-range dependency, has a strictly smaller critical parameter than the classical model. This is reminiscent of the work of Duminil-Copin, Hil\'ario, Kozma and Sidoravicius on brochette percolation. Our proof differs, however, in that we do not use Aizenman--Grimmett enhancements or differential inequalities. Two key ingredients are the work of Hil\'ario, S\'a, Sanchis and Teixeira on stretched lattices, and the Russo--Seymour--Welsh result for oriented percolation by Duminil-Copin, Tassion and Teixeira.