A short proof of the Harris-Kesten Theorem

We give a short proof of the fundamental result that the critical probability for bond percolation in the planar square lattice is equal to 1/2. The lower bound was proved by Harris, who showed in 1960 that percolation does not occur at $p=1/2$. The other, more difficult, bound was proved by Kesten,...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bollobas, B, Riordan, O
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2004
Description
Summary:We give a short proof of the fundamental result that the critical probability for bond percolation in the planar square lattice is equal to 1/2. The lower bound was proved by Harris, who showed in 1960 that percolation does not occur at $p=1/2$. The other, more difficult, bound was proved by Kesten, who showed in 1980 that percolation does occur for any $p>1/2$.