Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 13 5 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
We first derive the reflected attachment estimate for percolation. Put , , and . Let require an open vertical crossing of together with an open path in attaching it to the right side of . ThenTo prove this, explore the leftmost vertical open crossing of , revealing bonds on and to its left, but none strictly to its right. One can implement this exploration by following the boundary of the set accessible from the left using closed dual bonds; its right boundary is the extremal open crossing when that crossing exists. Thus fixing its outcome leaves right-side bonds in their original independent distribution.
For each possible explored , reflect its geometry in and join it to its reflection to obtain a bottom-to-top separator of . This reflected portion is only a geometrical separator and is not presumed open. Let and mean that an open path from the right boundary reaches, respectively, the lower or upper half of , staying to its right until its endpoint. Any horizontal open crossing of , followed from right to left until its first meeting with , witnesses at least one of these events. Reflection in swaps and and preserves the independent measure. HenceThe bonds tested by remain unexposed after specifying ; conditional on that exploration its probability is still the unconditional one for this deterministic separator. Its occurrence attaches the genuinely open lower crossing to the right side. Average over to obtain the attachment estimate.
Now take and , with common corner square . Use , its horizontal reflection in , and a horizontal open crossing of . The last crossing meets the vertical crossings of in both attachment events, so these three events give a horizontal crossing of . All three events are increasing events, so the Harris lemma gives
For all aspect ratios, glue a width-, height- rectangle to a width-, height- rectangle with an overlap square of side . Their horizontal crossings and an overlap vertical crossing imply a crossing of their union. Again the Harris lemma givesAdding a -wide rectangle therefore yieldsFor height , let , so and . Choose an integer . For , we have ; restricting to height and extracting a shorter horizontal crossing givesFor , the horizontal bottom-row path gives whenever the allowed integer exists. Thus one may take . This proves the requested uniform rectangle crossing in bond percolation bound, rather than assuming the Russo-Seymour-Welsh theorem.
