Counting minimal cutsets and $p_c<1$

Abstract: We prove two results concerning percolation on general graphs. - We establish the converse of the classical Peierls argument: if the critical parameter for (uniform) percolation satisfies $p_c<1$, then the number of minimal cutsets of size $n$ separating a given vertex from infinity is bounded above exponentially in $n$. This resolves a conjecture of Babson and Benjamini from 1999. - We prove that $p_c<1$ for every uniformly transient graph. This solves a problem raised by Duminil-Copin, Goswami, Raoufi, Severo and Yadin, and provides a new proof that $p_c<1$ for every transitive graph of superlinear growth.