&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\smash{\sum_{\underset{v+w\leq n}{v,w\in [n]}}}\P^{[-v,w]}_{b_{-v}=b_{w}=1}(\Res{0}\!\geq\! k\,\&\, P_{v,w}\!\in\!\mathcal{P})  \left(\left(\P^{[w,n-v]}(\NZ{w})\right)^{\!\!2}\!+\!\bigO{p^{n-v-w+1}}\right) +\bigO{p^{n}} \tag{by Lemma~\ref{lemma:independenetSidesNew}}\\

			&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\smash{\sum_{\underset{v+w\leq n}{v,w\in [n]}}}\P^{[-v,w]}_{b_{-v}=b_{w}=1}(\Res{0}\!\geq\! k\,\&\, P_{v,w}\!\in\!\mathcal{P})  \left(\P^{[-m,-v]}(\NZ{-v})\P^{[w,m]}(\NZ{w})\!+\!\bigO{p^{n-v-w+1}}\right) +\bigO{p^{n}} \tag{by Lemma~\ref{lemma:independenetSidesNew}}\\	

			&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\smash{\sum_{\underset{v+w\leq n}{v,w\in [n]}}}\P^{[-v,w]}_{b_{-v}=b_{w}=1}(\Res{0}\!\geq\! k\,\&\, P_{v,w}\!\in\!\mathcal{P}) \P^{[-m,-v]}(\NZ{-v})\P^{[w,m]}(\NZ{w}) +\bigO{p^{n}} \tag{$|P_{v,w}|=v+w-1$}\\

			&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{\underset{v+w\leq n}{v,w\in [n]}}\P^{[-m,m]}(\Res{0}\!\geq\! k\,\&\, P_{v,w}\!\in\!\mathcal{P}) +\bigO{p^{n}} \tag{by Lemma~\ref{lemma:eventindependenceNew}}\\[-1mm]

			&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{\underset{|P|<n}{P\text{ patch}:0\in P}}\P^{[-m,m]}(\Res{0}\!\geq\! k\,\&\, P\in\mathcal{P}) +\bigO{p^{n}} \\[-1mm]

			&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{P\text{ patch}:0\in P}\P^{[-m,m]}(\Res{0}\!\geq\! k\,\&\, P\in\mathcal{P}) +\bigO{p^{n}} \\

			&= \E^{[-m,m]}(\Res{0})+\bigO{p^{n}}.\\[-3mm]										

		\end{align*}  

		\noindent Repeating the same argument with $m$ and comparing the results completes the proof.

	\end{proof} 	

\begin{comment}

		Let $N\geq \max(2n,2m)$, then

		\begin{align*}

		R^{(n)}

		&= \E^{(n)}(\Res{1}) \tag{by translation invariance}\\

		&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\P^{(n)}(\Res{1}\geq k) \\

		%&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{\underset{\ell\geq r-1}{\ell,r\in[n]}}\P^{(n)}(\Res{1}\geq k\,\&\, [\ell+1,r-1]\in\mathcal{P}) \tag{partition}\\

		%&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{\underset{\ell\geq r}{\ell,r\in[n]}}\P^{(n)}(\Res{1}\geq k\,\&\, [\ell+1,r-1]\in\mathcal{P})  +\bigO{p^{n}} \\	

		%&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{\underset{\ell\geq r}{\ell,r\in[n]}}\P^{[l,r]}_{b_{\ell}=b_{r}=1}(\Res{1}\geq k\,\&\, [\ell+1,r-1]\in\mathcal{P}) \P^{[r,\ell]}(\NZ{\ell,r}) +\bigO{p^{n}} \tag{by Lemma~\ref{lemma:eventindependenceNew}}\\				

		&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{P\text{ patch}:1\in P}\P^{(n)}(\Res{1}\geq k\,\&\, P\in\mathcal{P}) \tag{partition}\\

		&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{P\text{ patch}:1\in P}^{|P|<n}\P^{(n)}(\Res{1}\geq k\,\&\, P\in\mathcal{P}) +\bigO{p^{n}}\\

		&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{P\text{ patch}:1\in P}^{|P|<n}\P^{[P\cup \partial P]}_{b_{\partial P}=1}(\Res{1}\geq k\,\&\, P\in\mathcal{P}) \P^{[\overline{P}]}(\NZ{\partial P}) +\bigO{p^{n}} \tag{by Lemma~\ref{lemma:eventindependenceNew}}\\

		&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{P\text{ patch}:1\in P}^{|P|<n}\P^{[P\cup \partial P]}_{b_{\partial P}=1}(\Res{1}\geq k\,\&\, P\in\mathcal{P}) \left(\left(\P^{[|\overline{P}|]}(\NZ{1})\right)^2+\bigO{p^{|\overline{P}|}}\right) +\bigO{p^{n}} \tag{by Lemma~\ref{lemma:independenetSidesNew}}\\

		&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{P\text{ patch}:1\in P}^{|P|<n}\P^{[P\cup \partial P]}_{b_{\partial P}=1}(\Res{1}\geq k\,\&\, P\in\mathcal{P}) \left(\left(\P^{[N]}(\NZ{1})\right)^2+\bigO{p^{|\overline{P}|}}\right) +\bigO{p^{n}} \tag{by Corollary~\ref{cor:probIndepNew}}\\

		&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{P\text{ patch}:1\in P}^{|P|<n}\P^{[-N,N]}(\Res{1}\geq k\,\&\, P\in\mathcal{P}) +\bigO{p^{n}} \tag{by Lemma~\ref{lemma:eventindependenceNew}}\\

		&= \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\sum_{P\text{ patch}:1\in P}\P^{[-N,N]}(\Res{1}\geq k\,\&\, P\in\mathcal{P}) +\bigO{p^{n}} \tag{by Lemma~\ref{lemma:eventindependenceNew}}\\

		&= \E^{[-N,N]}(\Res{1})+\bigO{p^{n}}.

		\end{align*}	

\end{comment}			

~

Questions:

\begin{itemize}

	\item Can we generalise the proof to other translationally invariant spaces, like the torus?

	\item In view of this proof, can we better characterise $a_k^{(k+1)}$?

	\item Why did Mario's and Tom's simulation show that for fixed $C$ the contribution coefficients have constant sign? Is it relevant for proving \ref{it:pos}-\ref{it:geq}?

\end{itemize} 

	%I think the same arguments would translate to the torus and other translationally invariant spaces, so we could go higher dimensional as Mario suggested. Then I think one would need to replace $|S_{><}|$ by the minimal number $k$ such that there is a $C$ set for which $S\cup C$ is connected. I am not entirely sure how to generalise Lemma~\ref{lemma:probIndep} though, which has key importance in the present proof.

\newpage

\section{General graphs proof}

We consider the following generalization of the Markov Chain.

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a graph with vertex set $V$ and edge set $E$. We define a Markov Chain $\mathcal{M}_G$ as the following process: initialize every vertex of $G$ independently to 0 with probability $p$ and 1 with probability $1-p$. Then at each step, select a uniformly random vertex that has value $0$ and resample it and its neighbourhood, all of them independently with the same probability $p$. The Markov Chain terminates when all vertices have value $1$. We use $\P^{G}$ to denote probabilities associated to this Markov Chain and $\E^G$ to denote expectation values.

    Let $S\subseteq V$ be any subset of vertices.

    \begin{itemize}

        \item Define $\Z{S}$ as the event that \emph{all} vertices in $S$ become zero at any point in time before the Markov Chain terminates.

        \item Define $\NZ{S}$ as the event that \emph{none} of the vertices in $S$ become zero at any point in time before the Markov Chain terminates.

        \item Define for any event $A$:

            \begin{align*}

                \P^{G}_S(A) &= \P^{G}(A \mid \text{All vertices in $S$ get initialized to }1)

            \end{align*}

    \end{itemize}

\end{definition}

    \begin{align*}

        &=

        \; \cdot \;

    \end{align*}

\end{lemma}

\begin{proof}

    \begin{align*}

        \P^{(n)}_b[\xi] &= \P(\text{pick }s_1 | z_1) \P(r_1) \P(\text{pick }s_2 | z_2) \P(r_2) \cdots \P(\text{pick }s_{|\xi|} | z_{|\xi|}) \P(r_{|\xi|}) \\

                &= \frac{1}{z_1} \P(r_1) \frac{1}{z_2} \P(r_2) \cdots \frac{1}{z_{|\xi|}} \P(r_{|\xi|}) .

    \end{align*}

    To construct $\xi_1$ and $\xi_2$, start with $\xi_1 = \left( (\text{initialize }b_1) \right)$ and $\xi_2 = \left( (\text{initialize }b_2) \right)$. For each step $(z_i,s_i,r_i)$ in $\xi$ do the following: if $s_i$ is ``on the $b_1$ side of $v,w$'' then append $(z^{(1)}_i,s_i,r_i)$ to $\xi_1$ and if its ``on the $b_2$ side of $v,w$'' then append $(z^{(2)}_i,s_i,r_i)$ to $\xi_2$. Here $z^{(1)}_i$ is the number of zeroes that were on the $b_1$ side and $z^{(2)}_i$ is the number of zeroes on the $b_2$ side so we have $z_i = z^{(1)}_i + z^{(2)}_i$.

    %Let the resulting paths be

    %\begin{align*}

    %    \xi_1 &= \left( (z^{(1)}_{a_1}, s_{a_1}, r_{a_1}), (z^{(1)}_{a_2}, s_{a_2}, r_{a_2}), ..., (z^{(1)}_{a_{|\xi_1|}}, s_{a_{|\xi_1|}}, r_{a_{|\xi_1|}}) \right) \\

    %    \xi_2 &= \left( (z^{(2)}_{b_1}, s_{b_1}, r_{b_1}), (z^{(2)}_{b_2}, s_{b_2}, r_{b_2}), ..., (z^{(2)}_{b_{|\xi_1|}}, s_{b_{|\xi_1|}}, r_{b_{|\xi_1|}}) \right)

    %\end{align*}

    Now $\xi_1$ is a valid (terminating) path from $b_1$ to $\mathbf{1}$, because in the original path $\xi$, all zeroes ``on the $b_1$ side'' have been resampled by resamplings ``on the $b_1$ side''. Since the sites $v,w$ inbetween never become zero, there can not be any zero ``on the $b_1$ side'' that was resampled by a resampling ``on the $b_2$ side''.

    Vice versa, any two paths $\xi_1\in\start{b_1}\cap \mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}$ and $\xi_2\in\start{b_2}\cap\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}$ also induce a path $\xi\in\start{b} \cap \mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}$ by simply interleaving the resampling positions. Note that $\xi_1,\xi_2$ actually induce $\binom{|\xi_1|+|\xi_2|}{|\xi_1|}$ paths $\xi$ because of the possible orderings of interleaving the resamplings in $\xi_1$ and $\xi_2$.

    For a fixed $\xi_1,\xi_2$ we will now show the following:

    \begin{align*}

        \sum_{\substack{\xi\in\start{b} \cap \mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)} \text{ s.t.}\\ \xi \text{ decomposes into } \xi_1,\xi_2 }} \P^{(n)}_b[\xi] &=

        \sum_{\text{interleavings of }\xi_1,\xi_2} \P(\text{interleaving}) \cdot \P^{(n)}_{b_1}[\xi_1] \cdot \P^{(n)}_{b_2}[\xi_2] \\

        &= \P^{(n)}_{b_1}[\xi_1] \cdot \P^{(n)}_{b_2}[\xi_2]

    \end{align*}

    where both sums are over $\binom{|\xi_1|+|\xi_2|}{|\xi_1|}$ terms.

    This is best explained by an example. Lets consider the following fixed $\xi_1,\xi_2$ and an example interleaving where we choose steps from $\xi_2,\xi_1,\xi_1,\xi_2,\cdots$:

    \begin{align*}

        \xi_1 &= \left( (z_1, s_1, r_1), (z_2, s_2, r_2), (z_3, s_3, r_3), (z_4, s_4, r_4),\cdots  \right) \\

        \xi_2 &= \left( (z_1', s_1', r_1'), (z_2', s_2', r_2'), (z_3', s_3', r_3'), (z_4', s_4', r_4'),\cdots  \right) \\

        \xi   &= \left( (z_1 + z_1', s_1', r_1'), (z_1+z_2', s_1, r_1), (z_2+z_2', s_2, r_2), (z_3+z_2', s_2', r_2'), \cdots \right)

    \end{align*}

    The probability of $\xi_1$, started from $b_1$, is given by

    \begin{align*}

        \P^{(n)}_{b_1}[\xi_1] &= \P(\text{pick }s_1|z_1) \P(r_1) \P(\text{pick }s_2|z_2) \P(r_2) \cdots \P(\text{pick }s_{|\xi_1|}|z_{|\xi_1|}) \P(r_{|\xi_1|}) \\

                &= \frac{1}{z_1} \P(r_1) \frac{1}{z_2} \P(r_2) \cdots \frac{1}{z_{|\xi_1|}} \P(r_{|\xi_1|}) .

    \end{align*}

    and similar for $\xi_2$ but with primes.

    The following diagram illustrates all possible interleavings, and the red line corresponds to the particular interleaving $\xi$ in the example above.

    \begin{center}

        \includegraphics{diagram_paths2.pdf}

    \end{center}

    For the labels shown within the grid, define $p_{ij} = \frac{z_i}{z_i + z_j'}$.

    The probability of $\xi$ is given by

    \begin{align*}

        \P^{(n)}_b[\xi] &= \frac{1}{z_1+z_1'} \P(r_1') \frac{1}{z_1+z_2'} \P(r_1) \frac{1}{z_2+z_2'} \P(r_2) \frac{1}{z_3+z_2'} \P(r_2') \cdots \tag{by definition}\\

        &=

        \frac{z_1'}{z_1+z_1'} \frac{1}{z_1'} \P(r_1') \;

        \frac{z_1 }{z_1+z_2'} \frac{1}{z_1 } \P(r_1 ) \;

        \frac{z_2 }{z_2+z_2'} \frac{1}{z_2 } \P(r_2 ) \;

        \frac{z_2'}{z_3+z_2'} \frac{1}{z_2'} \P(r_2')

        \cdots \tag{rewrite fractions}\\

        &=

        \frac{z_1'}{z_1+z_1'} \;

        \frac{z_1 }{z_1+z_2'} \;

        \cdots

        \P^{(n)}_{b_1}[\xi_1] \; \P^{(n)}_{b_2}[\xi_2] \tag{definition of $\P^{(n)}_{b_i}[\xi_i]$} \\

        &= (1-p_{1,1}) \; p_{1,2} \; p_{2,2} \; (1-p_{3,2}) \; \P^{(n)}_{b_1}[\xi_1] \; \P^{(n)}_{b_2}[\xi_2] \tag{definition of $p_{i,j}$} \\

        &= \P(\text{path in grid}) \; \P^{(n)}_{b_1}[\xi_1] \; \P^{(n)}_{b_2}[\xi_2]

    \end{align*}

    In the grid we see that at every point the probabilities sum to 1, and we always reach the end, so we know the sum of all paths in the grid is 1. This proves the required equality.

    We obtain

    \begin{align*}

        \P^{(n)}_b(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)},A_1,A_2)

        &= \sum_{\substack{\xi\in\start{b} \cap \\ \mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap A_1\cap A_2}} \P^{(n)}_b(\xi) \\

        &= \sum_{\substack{\xi_1\in\start{b_1} \cap \\ \mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap A_1}} \;\;

          \sum_{\substack{\xi_2\in\start{b_1} \cap \\ \mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap A_2}}

        \P^{(n)}_{b_1}(\xi_1)\cdot\P^{(n)}_{b_2}(\xi_2) \\

        &=

        \P^{(n)}_{b_1}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)},A_1)

        \; \cdot \;

        \P^{(n)}_{b_2}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)},A_2).

    \end{align*}

    The second equality follows directly from $\mathbb{P}(A\mid B)=\mathbb{P}(A,B)/\mathbb{P}(B)$ and setting $A_1,A_2$ to the always-true event.

\end{proof}

\begin{lemma}[Conditional independence 2] \label{lemma:eventindependenceNewGen}

	Let $v,w \in [n]$, and let $A$ be any event that depends only on the sites $[v,w]$ (meaning the initialization and resamples) and similarly $B$ an event that depends only on the sites $[w,v]$. (For example $\mathrm{Z}^{(s)}$ or ``$s$ has been resampled at least $k$ times'' for an $s$ on the correct interval). Then we have

	\begin{align*}

		\P^{(n)}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap A\cap B)

		=

		\P_{b_v=b_w=1}^{[v,w]}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap A)

		\; \cdot \;

		\P^{[w,v]}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap B),

	\end{align*}

	and similarly

	\begin{align*}

		\P^{[n]}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v)}\cap A\cap B)

		=

		\P_{b_v=1}^{[v]}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v)}\cap A)

		\; \cdot \;

		\P^{[v,n]}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v)}\cap B)

	\end{align*}

	where there is no longer a condition on the starting state.

\end{lemma}

\begin{proof}

    We start by relating the different Markov Chains.

    If $b$ is a starting state where all the zeroes are inside an interval $[v,w]$ (not on the boundary) then we can switch between the cycle and the finite chain:

    \begin{align*}

        \P^{(n)}_{b} (\NZ{v,w} \cap A) = \P^{[v,w]}_b (\NZ{v,w}\cap A) .

    \end{align*}

    If vertex $v$ and $w$ never become zero, then the zeroes never get outside of the interval $[v,w]$ and we can ignore the entire circle and only focus on the process within $[v,w]$.

    \begin{align*}

        \P^{(n)}_b(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)} \cap A \cap B)

        &=

        \P^{[v,w]}_{b|_{[v,w]}}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)} \cap A)

        \; \cdot \;

        \P^{[w,v]}_{b|_{[w,v]}}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)} \cap B)

    \end{align*}

    Note that this also holds if $b$ has zeroes on the boundary (i.e. $b_v=0$ or $b_w=0$), because then both sides of the equations are zero.

    For the starting state we have the expression $\P^{(n)}(\start{b}) = (1-p)^{|b|} p^{n-|b|}$ so it splits into a product

    \begin{align*}

        \P^{(n)}(\start{b}) = \P^{[v,w]}(\start{b|_{[v+1,w-1]}}) \;\; \P^{[w,v]}(\start{b|_{[w,v]}})

    \end{align*}

    where we have to be careful to count the boudary only once.

    We now have

    \begin{align*}

		\P^{(n)}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap A\cap B)

        &= \sum_{b\in\{0,1\}^n} \P^{(n)}_b(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap A\cap B) \; \P^{(n)}(\start{b}) \\

        &= \sum_{b\in\{0,1\}^n}

            \P^{[v,w]}_{b|_{[v,w]}}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap A)

            \P^{[v,w]}(\start{b|_{[v+1,w-1]}})

            \\ &\qquad\qquad\quad\cdot

            \P^{[w,v]}_{b|_{[w,v]}}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap B)

            \P^{[w,v]}(\start{b|_{[w,v]}}) \\

        &= \left( \sum_{\substack{b_1\in\{0,1\}^{[v,w]}\\ b_v=b_w=1}}

            \P^{[v,w]}_{b_1}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap A)

            \P^{[v,w]}(\start{b_1}) \right)

            \\ &\qquad \cdot

           \left( \sum_{b_2\in\{0,1\}^{[w,v]}}

            \P^{[w,v]}_{b_2}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap B)

            \P^{[w,v]}(\start{b_2}) \right) \\

        &=  \P^{[v,w]}_{b_v=b_w=1}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap A) \cdot

            \P^{[w,v]}(\mathrm{NZ}^{(v,w)}\cap B)

    \end{align*}

    The second equality follows in a similar way.

\end{proof}

	\begin{definition}[Connected patches]

		Let $P\subseteq V$ be a connected component of $G$. We say that $P$ is a patch of a particular run of the process if $P$ is a maximal connected component of the vertices that have ever become $0$ before termination. We denote the set of patches of a run by $\mathcal{P}$. For a patch $P$ let $\patch{P}$ denote the event that one of the patches is equal to $P$. 

		In other words

		\begin{align*}

		\patch{P} := \NZ{\overline{\partial}P} \cap \Z{P}.

		\end{align*}

		For a set of patches $\mathcal{P}$ 	

		\begin{align*}

			\mathcal{P}'\in \mathcal{P} := \bigcup_{P\in \mathcal{P}'}\NZ{\overline{\partial}P} \cap \Z{P}.

		\end{align*}

	\end{definition}