A lower bound on the critical parameter of interlacement percolation in high dimension

Abstract: We investigate the percolative properties of the vacant set left by random interlacements on Z^d, when d is large. A non-negative parameter u controls the density of random interlacements on Z^d. It is known from arXiv:0704.2560, and arXiv:0808.3344, that there is a non-degenerate critical value u_, such that the vacant set at level u percolates when u < u_, and does not percolate when u > u_. Little is known about u_, however for large d, random interlacements on Z^d, ought to exhibit similarities to random interlacements on a (2d)-regular tree, for which the corresponding critical parameter can be explicitly computed, see arXiv:0907.0316. We prove in this article a lower bound on u_*, which is equivalent to log(d) as d goes to infinity. This lower bound is in agreement with the above mentioned heuristics.