English

Visibility to infinity in the hyperbolic plane, despite obstacles

Probability 2008-07-22 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

Suppose that ZZ is a random closed subset of the hyperbolic plane \H^2, whose law is invariant under isometries of \H^2. We prove that if the probability that ZZ contains a fixed ball of radius 1 is larger than some universal constant p<1p<1, then there is positive probability that ZZ contains (bi-infinite) lines. We then consider a family of random sets in \H^2 that satisfy some additional natural assumptions. An example of such a set is the covered region in the Poisson Boolean model. Let f(r)f(r) be the probability that a line segment of length rr is contained in such a set ZZ. We show that if f(r)f(r) decays fast enough, then there are almost surely no lines in ZZ. We also show that if the decay of f(r)f(r) is not too fast, then there are almost surely lines in ZZ. In the case of the Poisson Boolean model with balls of fixed radius RR we characterize the critical intensity for the almost sure existence of lines in the covered region by an integral equation. We also determine when there are lines in the complement of a Poisson process on the Grassmannian of lines in \H^2.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0807.3308,
  title  = {Visibility to infinity in the hyperbolic plane, despite obstacles},
  author = {Itai Benjamini and Johan Jonasson and Oded Schramm and Johan Tykesson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0807.3308},
  year   = {2008}
}
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