The bunkbed conjecture for independent bond percolation

The bunkbed graph G=(V,E)G=(V,E) of a graph G~=(V~,E~)\widetilde{G}=(\widetilde{V},\widetilde{E}) is formed by superposing two identical copies of G~\widetilde{G} and adding edges between corresponding vertices. Write G=G~×{0,1}G=\widetilde{G}\times\{0,1\}. A vertex (x,0)(x,0) is in the bottom graph, a vertex (x,1)(x,1) is in the top graph, and the symmetrical vertex of u=(x,i)u=(x,i) is u=(x,1i)u'=(x,1-i). The bunkbed conjecture. Let uu and vv be vertices of the bottom graph, and let vv' be the symmetrical vertex of vv. For every p[0,1]p\in[0,1], independent bond percolation on GG satisfies

Pp(uv)Pp(uv).\mathbb{P}_{p}(u\leftrightarrow v)\geqslant\mathbb{P}_{p}(u\leftrightarrow v').

The conjecture compares the probability of connecting two vertices on the same level with the probability of connecting corresponding vertices on opposite levels. It is known for some subclasses, including outerplanar and wheel graphs; for the complete graph, the paper proves the claim for p1/2p\geqslant 1/2, while the general statement remains open.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Paul de Buyer, “A proof of the Bunkbed conjecture on the complete graph for p1/2”, arXiv:1802.04694 (2018).

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