Crossing exponent in the Brownian loop soup

Abstract

We study the clusters of loops in a Brownian loop soup in some bounded two-dimensional domain with subcritical intensity $\theta \in (0,1/2]$. We obtain an exact expression for the asymptotic probability of the existence of a cluster crossing a given annulus of radii $r$ and $r^s$ as $r \to 0$ ($s >1$ fixed). Relying on this result, we then show that the probability for a macroscopic cluster to hit a given disc of radius $r$ decays like $|\log r|^{-1+\theta+ o(1)}$ as $r \to 0$. Finally, we characterise the polar sets of clusters, i.e. sets that are not hit by the closure of any cluster, in terms of $\log^\alpha$-capacity. This paper reveals a connection between the 1D and 2D Brownian loop soups. This connection in turn implies the existence of a second critical intensity $\theta = 1$ that describes a phase transition in the percolative behaviour of large loops on a logarithmic scale targeting an interior point of the domain.