Multitype Contact Process on $\Z$: Extinction and Interface

Abstract

We consider a two-type contact process on $\Z$ in which both types have equal finite range and supercritical infection rate. We show that a given type becomes extinct with probability 1 if and only if, in the initial configuration, it is confined to a finite interval $[-L,L]$ and the other type occupies infinitely many sites both in $(-\infty, L)$ and $(L, \infty)$. We also show that, starting from the configuration in which all sites in $(-\infty, 0]$ are occupied by type 1 particles and all sites in $(0, \infty)$ are occupied by type 2 particles, the process $\rho_t$ defined by the size of the interface area between the two types at time $t$ is tight.