Bressan's Fire Conjecture for isotropic fire blocking

Let the fire propagate with unit speed in all directions from R0=B1(0)R_0=B_1(0), and let the barrier be constructed at constant speed σ>0\sigma>0, so that F=B1(0)F=\overline{B_1(0)} and ψ=1/σ\psi=1/\sigma. An admissible strategy is blocking when its burned region Rζ=t0Rζ(t)R^\zeta_\infty=\bigcup_{t\geq 0}R^\zeta(t) is bounded. Bressan's Fire Conjecture. If σ2\sigma\leq 2, no admissible blocking strategy exists. This conjecture identifies the expected sharp threshold between possible and impossible isotropic fire confinement; the result is known for σ>2\sigma>2 (existence) and for σ1\sigma\leq 1 (nonexistence), leaving the intermediate range open.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Stefano Bianchini and Martina Zizza, “Existence of spiral strategies for blocking fire spreading”, arXiv:2508.05324 (2025).

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