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Critical and supercritical percolation

Project description

New study explores key mathematical fundamentals of percolation theory

Percolation theory studies how independent random input that is spread uniformly on a lattice or in space gives rise to macroscopic structures. Take for example, the spread of epidemics or forest fires. Despite impressive advances in the field, certain fundamental questions have not yet found a mathematical answer. Two notable examples that will motivate the research conducted by the EU-funded CriSP project are the continuity of the 3D phase transition for Bernoulli percolation and the universality of planar percolation. The project aims to make progress towards these open problems by establishing new connections between percolation theory and other fields of mathematics or theoretical computer science. By strengthening the bridges between different disciplines, the results are expected to have a wide impact on mathematics, and numerous applications in other fields.

Objective

Percolation studies how independent random input that is spread uniformly on a lattice or in space gives rise to macroscopic structures. This model, initially introduced to understand porosity, has turned out to be central for understanding fundamental features of real-world phenomena, ranging from phase transitions in physical and chemical systems to stability of Boolean functions with respect to perturbations. Over the last sixty years, a number of important mathematical results have been obtained concerning percolation, with ideas, interactions and consequences in mathematical fields such as probability, combinatorics, complex analysis, geometric group theory, planar topology and theoretical computer science. Highlights include the rigorous derivation of a number of features that are shared with other models from statistical physics: sharpness of phase transitions, renormalization theory, existence of scaling limits and critical exponents, relationship between discrete and continuous descriptions (constructive field theory)...
The story is however incomplete, as some of the most fundamental questions have not yet found a mathematical answer. Two notable examples that motivate the present research proposal are the continuity of the phase transition for Bernoulli percolation in dimension three (does the macroscopic structure appear continuously?) and the universality of planar percolation (are the macroscopic features of critical percolation in two dimensions independent of the microscopic model under consideration?).
In light of very recent progress, we propose here a list of interrelated projects, with the global aim of developing new tools that should enable us to make progress towards these two open problems. The impact of this study would go beyond the percolation or statistical physics community, as we aim to provide a clean and thorough understanding of some key concepts and phenomena, that would find natural applications in other disciplines.

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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ERC-STG - Starting Grant

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2019-STG

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Host institution

EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 479 675,00
Address
Raemistrasse 101
8092 Zuerich
Switzerland

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Region
Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Zürich Zürich
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 479 675,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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