Divergence of the correlation length for critical planar FK percolation with 1≤q≤41\le q\le4 via parafermionic observables

Parafermionic observables were introduced by Smirnov for planar FK percolation in order to study the critical phase $(p,q)=(p_c(q),q)$. This article gathers several known properties of these observables. Some of these properties are used to prove the divergence of the correlation length when approaching the critical point for FK percolation when $1\le q\le 4$. A crucial step is to consider FK percolation on the universal cover of the punctured plane. We also mention several conjectures on FK percolation with arbitrary cluster-weight $q>0$.Comment: 26 page

The self-dual point of the two-dimensional random-cluster model is critical for q≥1q\geq 1

We prove a long-standing conjecture on random-cluster models, namely that the critical point for such models with parameter $q\geq1$ on the square lattice is equal to the self-dual point $p_{sd}(q) = \sqrt q /(1+\sqrt q)$. This gives a proof that the critical temperature of the $q$-state Potts model is equal to $\log (1+\sqrt q)$ for all $q\geq 2$. We further prove that the transition is sharp, meaning that there is exponential decay of correlations in the sub-critical phase. The techniques of this paper are rigorous and valid for all $q\geq 1$, in contrast to earlier methods valid only for certain given $q$. The proof extends to the triangular and the hexagonal lattices as well.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figure

Smirnov's fermionic observable away from criticality

In a recent and celebrated article, Smirnov [Ann. of Math. (2) 172 (2010) 1435-1467] defines an observable for the self-dual random-cluster model with cluster weight q = 2 on the square lattice $\mathbb{Z}^2$, and uses it to obtain conformal invariance in the scaling limit. We study this observable away from the self-dual point. From this, we obtain a new derivation of the fact that the self-dual and critical points coincide, which implies that the critical inverse temperature of the Ising model equals $1/2\log(1+\sqrt{2})$. Moreover, we relate the correlation length of the model to the large deviation behavior of a certain massive random walk (thus confirming an observation by Messikh [The surface tension near criticality of the 2d-Ising model (2006) Preprint]), which allows us to compute it explicitly.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-AOP689 the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org