Connection decay rate in a percolation strip ($f_k(p)$)

For nearest-neighbour bond percolation with $0<p<1$ on the strip $T_k=\mathbb{Z}\times \{-k,\dots ,k\}$, put $q_k(n)={\mathbb{P}}_p((0,0)\leftrightarrow (n,0)\text{ in }{T}_k)$. The Harris-FKG inequality and translation invariance imply $q_k(n+m)\ge q_k(n)q_k(m)$. Thus $-\log q_k(n)$ is a subadditive sequence, and the Fekete lemma givesThe direct horizontal graph path gives $0\le f_k(p)\le -\log p$. Enlarging the strip increases every percolation two-point connection probability, so $f_k(p)$ is nonincreasing in $k$ and has a nonnegative limit of a sequence.

Let $q(n)$ be the unrestricted planar two-point percolation two-point connection probability. Every finite connecting graph path is contained in some strip, so $q_k(n)\uparrow q(n)$ for each fixed $n$. ThereforeThe equality uses commuting infima and monotonicity, not an unjustified interchange of two general limits. The right-hand side is the whole-plane connection decay rate by the Fekete lemma.

A vertical cut between consecutive columns of $T_k$ contains $2k+1$ edges. All are closed with probability $(1-p{)}^{2k+1}$. Cuts in different columns use disjoint edges, so their closed-cut events are independent. A connection from column zero to column $n$ must cross each of the intervening $n$ cuts. ConsequentlyThis finite-width obstruction persists even when the unrestricted planar percolation is supercritical.