A spatially-dependent fragmentation process

Abstract

We define a spatially-dependent fragmentation process, which involves rectangles breaking up into progressively smaller pieces at rates that depend on their shape. Long, thin rectangles are more likely to break quickly, and are also more likely to split along their longest side. We are interested in how the system evolves over time: how many fragments are there of different shapes and sizes, and how did they reach that state? Our theorem gives an almost sure growth rate along paths, which does not match the growth rate in expectation - there are paths where the expected number of fragments of that shape and size is exponentially large, but in reality no such fragments exist at large times almost surely.