Topology of the thermalized domain in eternal inflation

Sergei Winitzki
Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Theresienstr. 37, 80333 Munich, Germany
(Dated: December 5, 2008)
I study the topology of the thermalized domain in cosmological models that allow eternal inflation
of random walk type. At very late times, either all thermalized regions merge into one connected
domain, or thermalized regions remain forever separated from each other by eternally inflating
walls. Using the methods of percolation theory and stochastic inflation, I show that thermalized
regions do not merge if the fractal dimension of the inflationary domain is larger than 2.9998, which
is typically the case. Therefore, in most inflationary scenarios the resulting spacetime will contain
infinitely many causally disconnected thermalized domains.

I. INTRODUCTION

Eternal inflation is generically present in many models

of scalar field-driven inflation (see Refs. [13] for reviews).
In models where eternal inflation is present, inflation does
not end globally everywhere, so inflating regions can be
found at arbitrarily late times. Nevertheless, each given
comoving worldline will enter a reheating region with
probability one. The resulting complicated and inhomo-
geneous structure of the universe at very large scales was
studied numerically and analytically in early works [1, 4].
How much of this structure can be observed, even in
principle, at late times in a region that, like our local uni-
verse, has undergone reheating in the past? If the future
evolution of our part of the universe is forever dominated
by a cosmological constant or dark energy, as is presently
the case [57], then our possibility to observe distant re-
gions is severely limited (see, e.g., Ref. [8]). One would
have the best chance of observing a trace of eternal in-
flation in a universe where the horizon grows without
limit at late times. Let us, therefore, consider the sit-
uation where the dark energy decays and the spacetime
becomes asymptotically flat at late times.
While reheating is not reached everywhere at once, it
is possible that at late times reheated regions eventually
merge with each other into a single, topologically con-
nected domain. An observer could, in principle, travel
freely within that domain to any other reheated region.
On the other hand, there is the alternative possibil-
ity that each reheated region is surrounded by an ever-
thickening shell of inflating space. In that case, reheated
regions will not merge, and the reheated domain (the
set of all reheated points) will consist of infinitely many
topologically disconnected regions. Travel between these
regions will never become possible since they will always
remain spacelike-separated.
The two possibilities may have interesting conse-
quences for the possible holographic description of the
inflationary spacetime [911]. If reheated regions merge
into a single domain, the future lightlike infinity of the
thermalized domain is topologically connected. If, on the
other hand, the thermalized regions do not merge, the fu-
ture lightcones of different observers will never meet. In
that case, the holographic screen that could represent our
Figure 1: A conformal diagram for the future part of an eter-
nally inflating spacetime with a fractal arrangement of dust-
dominated bubbles [12].
spacetime will have fractal structure and will consist of
infinitely many disconnected pieces (Fig. 1). The fractal
structure of the conformal timelike infinity was explicitly
demonstrated in Ref. [12]. The holographic implications
of this structure may be explored in a future work.
The main question raised in the present work is
whether the topology of the reheated domain is connected
or disconnected. To answer this question, we need to de-
termine whether the inflating or the reheated regions are
more dense in an appropriate topological sense. It is
convenient to visualize the future evolution of comoving
worldlines by plotting the initial points of those world-
lines on a three-dimensional spatial slice in comoving co-
ordinates. Let us assume an inflationary model driven by
a field . In any three-dimensional slice of Hubble size
(called an H-region) where the field is homogeneous and
has value , there exist (with high probability) infinitely
many comoving worldlines that never enter any reheat-
ing regions to the future of the initial H-region. These
worldlines start from points on the initial slice that were
called eternal points [13]. Since the worldline start-
ing at an eternal point will always remain in an inflating
region of space, each eternal point generates an infinite
volume of inflating space throughout all time. If eternal
points themselves are sufficiently dense so that they form
a solid two-dimensional sheet in the three-dimensional
initial slice, the result will be an eternally inflating wall
that cannot be crossed by any timelike worldline. Re-
heated regions on both sides of such a wall are perma-
nently causally separated.
The density of the eternal set can be quantified by
its fractal dimension. In the context of eternal inflation
driven by a scalar field, the fractal dimension is deter-
mined by the inflationary potential. It was shown in

Ref. [13] that (with almost unit probability) the eter-
nal points indeed form a nonempty fractal set of measure
zero and a definite fractal dimension 3 , where > 0
is an eigenvalue of an appropriate Fokker-Planck equa-
tion. This fractal dimension 3 coincides with the
fractal dimension of the inflationary domain at a fixed
time, which was studied in earlier works [1, 4], if one
uses the scale factor (or e-folding) time, = ln a. It is
worth emphasizing that here we consider the coordinate-
invariant fractal dimension of the set of eternal points.
In contrast, the fractal dimension of the inflating domain
within an equal-time hypersurface depends on the choice
of spacetime coordinates [1].
One can draw immediate qualitative conclusions by
considering the fractal dimension of the eternal set [13].
If the fractal dimension is less than two, 3 < 2, the set
of eternal points is definitely too sparse to form a sheet
enclosing a reheated three-dimensional region. In that
case, it is assured that all reheated regions will even-
tually merge into one topologically connected domain.
However, the question is still open in the case 3 2 potentials that have a sufficiently wide self-reproduction
because there exist fractal sets that have fractal dimen-
sion close to 3 or even equal to 3 but do not contain any
continuous two-dimensional sheets.
The set of eternal points is an example of a set called a
random Sierpinski carpet or a curdling in the book [14].
We are presently interested in deciding whether the eter-
nal set contains any two-dimensional sheets. This prob-
lem is studied in the theory of fractal percolation [15, 16].
The percolation property of a set is usually defined as
the emergence of an infinite cluster connected by lin-
ear paths belonging to the set. In three dimensions, it
is clear that linear paths within the eternal set do not
prevent a total merging of all thermalized regions. One
can consider another type of percolation of a set, called
the sheet percolation [17]: the emergence of an infinite
cluster connected by two-dimensional sheets belonging to
the set. The sheets are not necessarily smooth or differ-
entiable surfaces, but they are continuous and represent
solid walls. The occurrence of sheet percolation of the
eternal set will certainly prevent percolation of the ther-
malized domain, since any horizon-size region will have
an almost unit probability to be crossed and divided in
two by an eternally inflating sheet.
Therefore, we would like to obtain conditions for sheet
percolation of the eternal set. General results of the the-
ory of fractal percolation suggest that the linear per-
colation occurs for smaller values of the fractal dimen-
sion than the sheet percolation [17]. However, avail-
able mathematical results in this area are insufficient to
determine the precise minimum value of the fractal di-
mension for which percolation sets in. Known bounds on
this minimum value are rather weak, as I will discuss in
more detail below.
A similar fractal percolation problem has been inves-
tigated by Guth and Weinberg [18] in the context of
the old inflationary scenario where reheating happened
only in bubbles, each bubble having spherical shape. Re-
2
formulating the result of Guth and Weinberg in terms
of the geometry of the eternal set, one can say that the
eternal set certainly has sheet percolation if its fractal
dimension 3 is sufficiently close to 3, more precisely
if 3 > 3 4.61 106, while sheet percolation is surely
absent if 3 < 2. These rather weak bounds apparently
cannot be much improved; a direct numerical simulation
of fractal percolation is a difficult task [19]. Neverthe-
less, these bounds were sufficient for the conclusions of
Ref. [18], as well as for other works (see e.g. Ref. [20]),
because the fractal dimension of the eternal set in typ-
ical bubble nucleation scenarios is extremely close to 3.
Similarly, in the present work I am able only to derive a
similar lower bound,
3 > 2.9998 = 3 2 104 , (1)
on the fractal dimension of the eternal set resulting from
random-walk eternal inflation. This result allows one to
conclude that sheet percolation definitely occurs (and re-
heating regions definitely do not merge) for inflationary
range so that the fractal dimension 3 is very close to
3. This is a generic situation (see Appendix A), except-
ing only some models of brane-world inflation [21] and
scenarios such as that of Ref. [22] where eternal inflation
is generically not present.
The fractal percolation problem for random-walk infla-
tion was considered in an early work [23]. However, they
used a complicated branching diffusion process where the
number of subdivisions is random, and could not obtain
results in closed form concerning the probability of per-
colation in inflationary models. An attempt to quantify
the probability of percolation was also made in Ref. [13],
again without conclusive results.
The paper is organized as follows. In the next section,
I formulate the problem of fractal percolation on a dis-
crete lattice and explain its relation to the cosmological
context. In Sec. III, I reproduce a known result in perco-
lation theory: an upper bound on the critical probability
pc for linear percolation in the lattice model. In Sec. III B
I obtain an analogous upper bound on the critical prob-
ability ps for sheet percolation. In Sec. IV I apply the
same technique to a model which more closely approxi-
mates the evolution of the eternally inflating spacetime
in scalar field-driven inflation. In the last section, the
bound on fractal dimension is obtained using the formal-
ism of stochastic inflation and the techniques developed
in Refs. [13, 24]. The appendices contain some technical
derivations.
II. FRACTAL PERCOLATION
B. Mandelbrot [25] was the first to investigate the pro-
cess of fractal percolation in the following simplified
form. Consider a square lattice on a plane, on which ini-
tially all squares are selected (e.g. painted white). On
this lattice, a discrete random process is implemented.

At each discrete time step, every selected square is, with
probability p, subdivided into N N identical selected
sub-squares in the natural way (N is a fixed number), and
with probability 1 p becomes unselected (e.g. painted
blue) and is not subdivided any more. Each selected sub-
square undergoes the same process of random subdivision
(Fig. 2). In the limit of infinite time we obtain a set S of
selected points, that is, points that always belong to some
selected square. The selected set S naturally acquires
a fractal structure (see Fig. 3).
inflating regions
thermalized regions
Figure 2: First steps in the construction of Mandelbrots frac-
tal process in two dimensions with N = 5, p = 5/6. Shaded
squares are non-selected and correspond to thermalized re-
gions in eternally inflating spacetime; unshaded squares are
selected and correspond to inflating regions.
This process can be generalized to a process in d dimen-
sions, where each lattice cube is subdivided into N d iden-
tical sub-cubes with N 2. The process just described
Figure 3: An example simulation of eternal inflation in a
box in two spatial dimensions [26]. Bubbles (H-regions) are
represented in comoving coordinates by squares. Dark shades
indicate bubbles of terminal types. Other shades correspond
to nested bubbles of various nonterminal (recyclable) types.
For the purposes of visual illustration, nucleation rates were
chosen of order one, and colored lines were drawn at bubble
boundaries.
3
has three parameters: d, N and p. The basic question
under study is the topology of the set S as function of
these parameters. In particular, the problem of fractal
percolation is to determine whether the selected set per-
colates, i.e. whether there is an infinitely large cluster of
selected points, all connected by paths located inside the
selected set S.
It is easy to see that, in the context of eternally inflat-
ing spacetime, a selected square is similar to an inflat-
ing region of horizon size drawn in comoving coordinates;
the parameter N is analogous to the number exp (Ht),
where t is the time step; and the probability p corre-
sponds to the probability to continue inflating (comple-
ment to the thermalization probability). This descrip-
tion of eternal inflation was called inflation in a box in
Ref. [27].
I now summarize known results concerning the prob-
lem of fractal percolation. If the probability p is too
small, the selected set S is empty with probability 1.
The condition for the set S to be nonempty is
N d p > 1. (2)
This condition expresses the requirement that, on the
average, there is at least one selected sub-cube at each
step. If this condition holds, the fractal dimension of the
selected set S in d dimensions is equal to
 
ln p
dimS = 1 + d. (3)
ln N
For fixed d and N there is a critical probability pc for
the set S to percolate. This means that percolation oc-
curs with probability 1 for p > pc and with probability 0
for p < pc . A weak bound on the probability of percola-
tion is found by a simple geometric argument: The set S
cannot percolate if its fractal dimension is smaller than
1. This gives the bound
1
pc > N d . (4)
For N = 2 and d = 2, this gives pc > 0.707. It has been
shown by more advanced techniques [28] that pc > 0.81.
It is clear that the simple argument does not give a sharp
lower bound for the critical probability.
One can obtain [16] the following upper bound for pc
for d = 2 and N = 3,
 7
8 64
pc < 0.9925,
9 63
or more generally for d 2 and N + d 5,
 N d 2
d

1
pc < 1 N 1+ . (5)
N d (N d 2)
(An elementary derivation of this result is given in
Sec. III.) However, this bound is very close to p 1.
The exact value of pc for any finite d and N is presently

unknown. For N and fixed p it has been shown that
pc tends to a certain finite limit (not close to p 1). This
limit is equal to the critical probability for site percola-
tion on a certain finite-dimensional lattice [29]. However,
the limit of very large N is not of particular physical in-
terest in the context of eternal inflation. The parameter
N is related to the number of statistically independent
daughter H-regions, so N cannot be meaningfully set to
an arbitrarily large value.
Sheet percolation occurs if the set S contains contin-
uous two-dimensional subsets (sheets) connecting arbi-
trarily far regions. If sheet percolation of the set S occurs,
any initially inflating H-region will be (with probability
close to 1) crossed and divided in two by sheets from
the set S, preventing travel across the H-region in any
direction. Hence, the complement of the set S (i.e. the
set of reheated points) cannot merge. In the context of
eternal inflation this means that the thermalized domain
consists of infinitely many completely disconnected ther-
malized regions, each having a finite comoving volume.
It has been shown [17] that, similarly to the usual (lin-
ear) percolation, there exists a critical probability ps for
sheet percolation. The fractal dimension of the set S
again provides a lower bound on the critical probability
because sheet percolation cannot happen if the set S has
a fractal dimension smaller than 2. An upper bound on
the critical probability ps for sheet percolation can be ob-
tained similarly to Eq. (5). In the next sections we shall
give a derivation of this bound for two processes: the
original Mandelbrots fractal percolation, and its gener-
alization approximating the evolution of an eternally in-
flating universe.
III. BOUNDS FOR FRACTAL PERCOLATION
ON A LATTICE
In this section we sketch a derivation of the bound on
the usual (linear) percolation for the Mandelbrot process
in d dimensions. This is the basic argument that we shall
extend and refine in the later sections.
We follow the argument of Ref. [16], suitably general-
ized to a random subdivision process on a d-dimensional
cubic lattice, with the subdivision parameter N . At each
time step, each selected d-dimensional cube is divided
into N d sub-cubes with probability p, or un-selected with
probability 1 p. We shall consider the set St of selected
points at time t; this set shrinks as t grows, and its limit
S S is a set of zero measure. The set St may perco-
late at some finite time t (it does at t = 0) but the paths
that connect the various parts of St may disappear at a
later time. We are interested in the topological properties
of St as t .
It can be shown [16] that there exists a critical value pc
such that the probability of linear percolation of S is zero
for p < pc and nonzero for p > pc , and similarly there
is a critical value ps for sheet percolation. Our purpose
now is to obtain bounds on pc and ps .
4
A. Bounds for linear percolation
Figure 4: A sufficient condition for percolation: If non-
selected sub-squares are rare, they cannot break up a path
crossing the two large squares. (Selected squares are shaded
in this fugure.)
To derive a bound, one formulates the property of per-
colation as the existence of a path crossing a large region
from its left boundary to its right boundary, passing only
over selected lattice elements. For illustration, we take
N = 3 and d = 2 (the argument does not depend crucially
on these numbers). Suppose that at some finite time t
in the simulation, the path goes through two selected
adjacent lattice squares when they are about to be sub-
divided into 9 sub-squares each. The key observation is
the following. If it happens that at most one sub-square
in each of the squares becomes unselected, then at the
next time step there will still exist a path connecting the
left boundary and the right boundary (see Fig. 4). For
an initial selected square, the probability for at least 8 of
the 9 sub-squares to remain selected is
f (p) p9 + 9p8 (1 p) = 9p8 8p9 . (6)
We may say that with probability f (p) the initial
square remains traversable after one time step, and call
this property the one-step traversability of the initial
square. We may now demand that at least 8 out of 9
daughter squares not only remain selected but also are
one-step traversable. The probability for this event can
be expressed as
9 8
[pf (p)] + 9 [pf (p)] (1 pf (p)) = f (pf (p)) . (7)
This event may be called the two-step traversability of
the initial square. We could finally consider the event
that the initial square is traversable after infinitely
many steps (this is similar to a renormalization group
argument). The probability of this event is the limit of
the sequence
1, f (p) , f (pf (p)) , f (pf (pf (p))) , . . . (8)
This sequence is monotonically decreasing because f (px)
is a monotonic function of x that satisfies f (px) < x near
x = 1 (as long as p < 1). On the other hand, the sequence
is bounded from below by 0. Therefore, the limit x0 of
 5

the sequence (8) exists and is equal to the largest of the established. The bound of Eq. (5) is the corresponding
solutions of the equation straightforward generalization of Eq. (11).
This bound can be made somewhat stronger if the ab-
x = f (px) (9) sence of more than one selected sub-cube does not break
the connection between adjacent lattice cubes. For in-
on the interval 0 < x < 1 (see Fig. 5). For p close to 1, stance, with N = 3 and d = 3 the adjacent cubes have
the value x0 is also close to 1, or it is equal to zero. a common face with 9 sub-cubes each. The presence of
up to four unselected sub-cubes within each of the faces
1.2
f( px) will not break the path. We can then modify the above
1.0
x argument to obtain a somewhat stronger bound on the
percolation, as follows. For a given selected square, the
0.8 probability for at least 23 of the 27 sub-squares to remain
0.6 selected is
4  
0.4 27
p27k (1 p)k .
X
f27,4 (p) (12)
0.2 x0 k
k=0
0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 Here we have introduced an auxiliary polynomial,

Figure 5: Graphs of y = x (dashed line) and y = f (px) m    

X l lk k l l!
(solid line) for p = 0.993. There are two nontrivial solutions fl,m (y) y (1 y) , .
of Eq. (9) shown at right. The monotonically decreasing se-
k k k! (l k)!
k=0
quence of Eq. (8) (dotted line) converges to the larger of these (13)
solutions (x0 ). The function fl,m (y) is monotonically increasing within
the interval (0, 1) because
It is clear that infinite-step traversability of initially  
selected squares is sufficient (but not necessary!) for per- dfl,m (y) l1 m
=l y lm1 (1 y) > 0, 0 < y < 1.
colation of the set S to occur. Therefore the probability dy m
that the set St , restricted to some initial square, can be (14)
crossed by a path for any t, is not smaller than x0 . The Percolation is assured if there exists a nontrivial solution
event that St percolates at any t is equivalent to the event x0 > 0 of the equation
of percolation of S (see [16] for rigorous proofs).
It is now straightforward to obtain an upper bound on f27,4 (px0 ) = x0 . (15)
pc . We note that Eq. (9) always has a trivial solution
The behavior of this function is similar to that shown in
x = 0, but it does not always have a nontrivial solution
Fig. 5. The solution x0 exists if p > pmin where pmin is
x0 such that 0 < x0 < 1. A nontrivial solution exists
the value of the parameter p for which the solution x0
only for p sufficiently close to 1. One finds that Eq. (9)
is unique. Therefore we obtain the bound pc < pmin ; a
has a nontrivial solution x0 > 0 only if
numerical calculation gives pmin (27, 4) 0.970.
 7
8 64 For general values of l and m, the value pmin(l, m) can
p . (10) be estimated analytically as shown in Appendix B. Some-
9 63
what stronger bounds on percolation can be found, for
If p satisfies this bound, then the probability x0 of the instance, by defining the one-step traversability through
infinite-step traversability is nonzero, in fact x0 1 (see the sum of all specific geometric configurations of unse-
Appendix B for details), and therefore the probability for lected sub-squares that do not obstruct traversal between
percolation of S is also nonzero and close to 1. Therefore the adjacent squares [23]. This is implemented by using
we obtain a bound on the critical percolation probability, different polynomials instead of fl,m (y). However, esti-
mates of the percolation threshold obtained in this way
 7
8 64 are not significantly stronger.
pc < 0.992. (11)
9 63

Given a value of p, we can check whether Eq. (9) has
nontrivial solutions. If it does then percolation of the set
S is guaranteed. Note, however, that we cannot reach
any conclusions regarding percolation if the value of p is
such that Eq. (9) has no nontrivial solutions 0 < x0 < 1.
It is clear that the same argument can be applied to
values of d and N other than 2 and 3, as long as a suit-
able geometric picture similar to that of Fig. 4 can be
B. Bounds for sheet percolation
We now modify the argument of the previous section
to obtain an upper bound on the critical probability ps
for the sheet percolation in a fractal lattice process.
We again consider the geometry of adjacent cubes as
in Fig. 4 but generalized to three dimensions. In the par-
ticular case d = 3, N = 3, we find that the two adjacent

cubes have 9 sub-cubes in common and will remain con-
nected by a two-dimensional sheet as long as each of them
contains no more than one unselected sub-cube. (This is,
of course, a sufficient but not a necessary condition.) The
formula (5) gives a bound
ps < 1 7.30 104 . (16)
This estimate is conservative. If we allow for two non-
selected sub-cube instead of one, then calculations similar
to the previous section give the following bound,
ps < 1 7.97 103 . (17)
These bounds should not be interpreted as a qualita-
tive indication of what the exact value of ps is. The only
conclusion one obtains in the case d = 3, N = 3 is that
the sheet percolation is assured if p > 1 7.30 104 .
Computing the precise value of ps , even for an appar-
ently simple case of a square lattice, remains an open
mathematical problem.
IV. SHEET PERCOLATION OF THE
ETERNALLY INFLATING DOMAIN
The elementary considerations regarding fractal perco-
lation on square lattices were reproduced in the previous
section as a preparation for considering the case of the
eternally inflating spacetime. Let us briefly summarize
the picture of random-walk inflation first developed in
Refs. [3032]. An H-region of physical size H 1 having
a homogeneous scalar field value 0 inflates during the
time interval t of order H 1 (one e-folding) into It is clear from the geometric considerations that a sheet
N 3 exp (3Ht) (18)
independent Hubble-scale regions. Each of these daugh-
ter regions has a homogeneous scalar field with a ran-
dom value = 0 + i , i = 1, ..., N 3 . Inflation ends
in a given Hubble-size region if reaches the value ,
roughly corresponding to the end of reheating.
The field increments i are approximately indepen-
dent in different Hubble-size volumes. In a given volume,
the field increment can be expressed as
p
= v () t + 2D () t , (19) is assured if the sequence Gs (), s = 1, 2, 3, ..., converges
where v() and D() are the kinetic coefficients of the
Fokker-Planck equation and is a normal Gaussian dis-
tributed random variable,
2 is a solution of the equation
hi = 0, = 1. (20)
We will denote the probability density for by P ().
This suggests an analogy with a lattice fractal process
in three dimensions (d = 3); inflating regions are se-
lected while thermalized regions are unselected. Un-
like Mandelbrots lattice process described in the previ-
ous sections, the inflating spacetime carries a local his-
tory of the scalar field (t), which determines the regions
6
that become unselected after each e-folding. We shall
now generalize the argument leading to Eq. (5) and ob-
tain a bound on the onset of sheet percolation of the
eternally inflating set E. The argument will use the in-
tuition provided by the square lattice problem, although
of course reheated and inflating H-regions do not have
square shape.
Consider a Hubble-scale region with homogeneous
value of the inflaton field. Here we use the proper time
variable t for simplicity; the final results will be invariant
with respect to the choice of spacetime coordinates. After
one e-folding, t = H 1 , there is a certain probability
G1 () that at most one of its N 3 daughter H-regions will
reheat and finish inflation. Let us call this eventone-step
traversability and denote this property by G1 . Then we
recursively define the s-step traversability property Gs ,
where s = 2, 3, ..., as follows: A Hubble-size region has
property Gs if at least N 3 1 of its N 3 daughter regions
(created after one e-folding) have property Gs1 . Let us
denote by Gs () the probability that an initial H-region
with the homogeneous field value has property Gs . As-
suming that each of the N 3 daughter regions created after
time t is statistically independent, we find the relation
Gs+1 () = fN 3 ,1 (hGs ( + )i) , (21)
Z
hGs ( + )i d P () Gs ( + ) , (22)
where is the quantity defined in Eq. (19) and the func-
tion fl,m (x) was introduced in Eq. (13).
Let us now consider two adjacent H-regions that both
have the limit property G (infinite-step traversability).
of eternal points crosses both of these H-regions. There-
fore, the limit G is a property that is sufficient for sheet
percolation (although it is not a necessary condition).
In fact, G is only a weak sufficient condition. If N is
large, we may allow more daughter H-regions to fail the
property G . Thus, we may replace the function fN 3 ,1
in Eq. (21) by fN 3 ,m with a larger value m > 1. This will
yield a stronger bound on the percolation probability.
Let us continue considering the property G as de-
fined above but keep the parameter m in the function
fN 3 ,m . As in Sec. III B, we find that sheet percolation
to a nonzero limit. This limit,
G() lim Gs (),
s
G () = fN 3 ,m (hGs ( + i) . (23)
If a solution G() of Eq. (23) exists such that 0 < G() <
1 for some , then the sheet percolation of the set E is
assured in H-regions with those values of the inflaton
field. On the other hand, it could happen that only the
solution G() 0 exists; in that case, we cannot conclude
anything about the probability of percolation.
 7

Let us denote by gl,m (x) the function inverse to fl,m (y), will merely multiply the equation by the factor T (t). For
implicitly defined by the equation instance, the time variable can be changed to scale factor
(or e-folding) time,
x = fl,m (gl,m (x)). (24)
dt
The function gl,m (x) is defined (for l > 2) on the interval d = , (31)
H 1 ()
(0, 1) and takes values also in the same interval. Let us
also denote for convenience N 3 . Then Eq. (23) can which will merely divide the coefficients of Eq. (28) by
be rewritten as H, so that we get a trivially equivalent equation
hGs ( + i = g,m (G()) . (25) D v 1
G + G + [G g,m (G)] = 0. (32)
We introduce a coarse-graining parameter & 1 as in H H
the standard formalism of stochastic inflation [32] and
The coefficients of that equation are determined by the
set t H 1 . With this definition, N = exp() and
inflaton potential; we have
= exp(3). The actual value of must be such that
the daughter H-regions are statistically independent af- D V () v M 2 1 dV
ter time t. Statistical independence is achieved due to D0 () = 2 , = Pl
v0 () ,
H 3MPl H 8 V d
decoherence of quantum fluctuations that exit the hori-
(33)
zon at a given time. While a general derivation of this
where we defined the Planck mass by
property is not yet available, one can get an estimate
of by considering the result of Prokopec and Rigopou- 1
2
los [33]. They showed by explicit calculations in a partic- MPl = (34)
G
ular two-field inflationary model that decoherence in each
fluctuation mode is achieved after a couple of e-folds fol- and G is Newtons constant. The coefficients of Eq. (32)
lowing the horizon exit. Therefore, a realistic value of also depend on the coarse-graining parameter & 1. Ro-
may be = 2 or = 3. Below we will obtain numeric bust conclusions can be drawn only if the final results of
results with these values of . the calculations do not depend sensitively on the exact
Since the kinetic coefficients change slowly (assuming value of .
that the slow roll approximation holds), we can expand Equation (28) always has trivial solutions G() 0
the function G() under the integral in Eq. (25) in t up and G() 1. Existence of nontrivial, physically mean-
to O (t) and use the properties inful solutions G() of Eq. (28) such that 0 G() 1
Z Z Z and G() is not everywhere equal to 0 or 1 is an indica-
d P () = 1, d P () = 0, d P () 2 = 1, tion of the presence of the sheet percolation of the eternal
set E. On the other hand, if we find no nontrivial solu-
(26) tions, we cannot conclude anything about the topology
to obtain of E.
It is shown in Appendix C that the existence of nontriv-
Z
hGs ( + i = d P () G ( + ) ial solutions of Eq. (28) is determined by the magnitude
of the smallest eigenvalue of the (linear) Fokker-Planck
d2 G
 
dG
G () + v () + D () 2 t + O(t2 ). equation in the scale factor time parametrization,
d d
(27) d2 d
[D0 () P ()] [v0 () P ()] = P () , (35)
Finally we substitute t = H 1 and rewrite Eq. (25) as d2 d
a (nonlinear) diffusion equation for G (), with zero boundary conditions at reheating,
H
D () G + v () G + [G g,m (G)] = 0. (28) P ( ) = 0. (36)

This equation is supplemented by the boundary condition There is a critical value such that for there exist
no nontrivial solutions of Eq. (28), while for 0 < <
G( ) = 0, (29) a unique nontrivial solution of Eq. (28) exists.
Equation (35) is well known in the stochastic infla-
which means that regions that evolved to the end of in-
tion approach and describes the late-time asymptotic dis-
flation, = , never satisfy the property G.
tribution of the inflaton field in the comoving volume.
Equation (28) is the central object of study in this
Namely, et P () d is the probability density of finding
paper. This equation is gauge-invariant because a change
the value along a randomly chosen comoving worldline
of time variable such as
at late times t. With appropriate boundary conditions,
dt the eigenvalue spectrum of Eq. (35) is bounded from be-
d (30)
T (, t) low, and we denoted by the smallest eigenvalue (which
 8

is positive). The magnitude of determines the aver-
age rate at which Hubble-scale regions finish inflation.
Smaller values of indicate a stronger self-reproduction.
It was shown in Ref. [13] that the eigenvalue is related
to the fractal dimension of the eternal set E,
dimE = 3 . (37)
Let us now estimate the eigenvalue for a generic
model of chaotic type with the potential of the form
V () = n . The lowest eigenvalue of the operator
L can be found from the variational principle,
hf, Lf i
= inf , (A2)
f () hf, f i

Eternal inflation is present if < 3. It follows that a where the operator L is that appearing in Eq. (35),
condition on is equivalent to a condition on the fractal d2 d
dimension dimE. We find that sheet percolation of the Lf 2
[D0 () f ] [v () f ] , (A3)
d d
fractal set E definitely occurs when its fractal dimension
dimE is high enough, and the scalar product is chosen such that the operator
L is self-adjoint,
dimE > 3 . (38) Z
hf1 , f2 i d f1 ()f2 ()M (), (A4)
If sheet percolation of the eternal set E occurs, then the
thermalized regions will remain causally disconnected at
" Z #

v0 ()
arbitrarily late times. In this case, for any Hubble-size M () D0 () exp d , (A5)
inflating region there is a finite probability that the region D0 ()
will be divided by a continuous two-dimensional sheet
while the function f () satisfies zero boundary conditions
made up of eternally inflating points from the set E. This
at reheating and Planck boundaries. An upper bound on
is the main result of this paper.
is obtained by choosing some test function f1 () and
It is found in Sec. C 2 of Appendix C that can be
substituting it into Eq. (A2), which can be transformed
estimated as
as
2 104 . (39) Rh i
2 2 M
hf1 , Lf1i (f D0 ) + (f D0 ) U () D 0
d
= R 2 ,
The value of the fractal dimension for models of chaotic hf1 , f1 i f1 M d
inflation are estimated in Appendix A. It is found that (A6)
is usually smaller than . Hence we can conclude that in    
d v0 () 3 4 1
typical models of inflation, eternally inflating points will U () = MPl . (A7)
form two-dimensional sheets, which appear as impenetra- d D0 () 8 V
ble walls forever separating different reheated domains. For models of chaotic type, there exists a Planck bound-
Due to these walls, reheated regions do not merge into a ary, = Pl , where the Hubble rate approaches Planck-
single topologically connected domain. scale values,
It is possible that some inflationary models will have a
larger > . In that case, we cannot conclude whether H(Pl ) = MPl . (A8)
reheated regions will merge because the mathematical
methods used in this work have yielded only a necessary Since M () quickly decreases away from = Pl , the
but not a sufficient condition for the merging of the re- dominant contribution to the integrals in Eq. (A6) comes
heated regions. from Pl . It is convenient to choose f1 () such

that f1 D0 = const, so that the derivative term (f D0 )
vanishes. By considering only the dominant contribution
Appendix A: ESTIMATES OF FOR SLOW-ROLL near Pl in the integrals in Eq. (A6), we obtain the
INFLATION estimate
2
 
D0 MPl 1
The eigenvalue was estimated in Ref. [34] for generic D0 (Pl )U (Pl ) = v0 v0 = V .
D0 8 V
models of new inflationary type where the potential (A9)
V () has a flat maximum with nonvanishing second With the above definitions of U (), D0 (), and v0 () one
derivative. Assuming without loss of generality that this finds for the potential V () = n the estimate
maximum is at = 0, the following approximation was
obtained,  2
n(n + 1) 2 n8 8 n
MPl . (A10)
8 3
M 2 |V (0)|
Pl . (A1)
16 V (0) For instance, with n = 4, V () = 41 4 , we find
The eigenvalue is always small when the potential is 5
1.1 . (A11)
flat near the top, as is normally required. 6
 9

This bound numerically coincides with the formula ob- are near 1 if l 1, and hence we are looking for an
tained in Ref. [1] by solving the Fokker-Planck equation approximation
in the scale factor parameterization. This indicates that
y0 = 1 , fl,m (y0 ) = 1 ; , 1. (B2)
the bound is sufficiently sharp and can be used as an
estimate of the eigenvalue.
Using Eq. (14), we rewrite the condition yfl,m (y) =
Conformance to the observed amplitude of primordial fl,m (y) as
density fluctuations requires choosing a very small value  
of the coupling constant in potentials of chaotic type. l1 m
l y lm (1 y) = fl,m (y) = 1 1, (B3)
We may estimate that reheating starts at such that m

hence in the leading-order approximation

dH
4H, (A12)   1/m  1/m
d l1 m! (l m 1)!
l = . (B4)
n
m l!
which yields for V () = ,
To estimate , we note that fl,m (y) near y = 1 has the
n leading-term expansion
= MPl . (A13)
4 
l

m+1
fl,m (y) = 1 y lm1 (1 y) +O[(1y)m+2 ],
The amplitude of primordial density fluctuations can be m+1
roughly estimated as the scale-invariant value (B5)
hence
H2 4H 2
 
l
105   = ; (A14) = 1 fl,m (y) m+1 . (B6)
 MPl H m+1 m+1
Finally, we compute the value
this yields the required value of , y 1
pmin (l, m) inf =
3n y(0,1) fl,m (y) 1
M 4n . (A15) 1/m
32 2 105 Pl

m m! (l m 1)!
1 . (B7)
Hence, the typical values of will be very small, m+1 l!
To obtain the asymptotic behavior at large l and m, we
n(n + 1) h n i2/n use Stirlings formula,
. (A16)
8 4 105  
1 1
ln (m!) = ln (2m) + m ln m m + O , (B8)
With n = 2 and n = 4, this yields 3.8 107 and 2 m
1.4 103 . We note, however, that the model of inflation which gives satisfactory precision already for m 1, and
driven by a potential of the form 4 is not compatible replace the expression (B7) by
with the current observational data, while 2 remains
1
acceptable [3538]. m 1 1 m1+ 2m
pmin (l, m) 1 e (2) 2m 1+ 1 . (B9)
m+1 l m
Hence the value pmin is always close to 1 when l
Appendix B: ESTIMATES OF PERCOLATION
m. This asymptotic result, as well as the more precise
PROBABILITY
Eq. (B7), are adequate for at least moderately large l
and m. Numerical evaluation of Eq. (B7) with l = 9,
It was shown in Sec. III that the probability of perco- m = 1 and with l = 27, m = 4 yields 0.993 and
lation is determined by the existence of solutions x > 0 0.968 respectively, which are good approximations to
of the equation x = fl,m (px). Rewriting that equation the precise values pmin (9, 1) 0.992 [see Eq. (11)] and
equivalently as pfl,m (y) = y, we find that a nontrivial pmin (27, 4) 0.970.
solution y > 0 exists as long as
" #1
y fl,m (y) Appendix C: SOLUTIONS OF
p > pmin (l, m) inf = sup . REACTION-DIFFUSION EQUATIONS
y(0,1) fl,m (y) y(0,1) y
(B1)
In this Appendix we examine the conditions for the ex-
The supremum is achieved at a point y = y0 > 0 such
istence of nontrivial solutions of reaction-diffusion equa-
that yfl,m (y)fl,m (y) = 0. This equation is a polynomial
tions similar to Eq. (28),
of degree m in y and so can be solved analytically only
for small values of m; therefore, we use a perturbative d2 G dG
ansatz applicable for large l. The values y0 and fl,m (y0 ) D () + v () + K (G) = 0, (C1)
d2 d
 10

with boundary conditions at the end-of-inflation points
G ( ) = 0. (C2)
Here K (G) is a continuous function defined on the inter-
val [0, 1] and such that
K (0) = K (1) = 0. (C3)
We note that Eq. (C1) always has solutions G() 0 and
G() 1. However, these solutions are not of physical
significance. A nontrivial, physically meaningful solution
should satisfy 0 G() 1 and not be everywhere equal
to 0 or 1. Moreover, we are looking for solution G() > 0
for away from the boundary, i.e. for a positive solution,
if it exists.
The function K(G) relevant for Eq. (28) is
K(G) = G g,m (G), (C4)
where gl,m is defined in Eq. (24). Another equation of
this type describes the probability X() of the existence
of an eternal point within an H-region with the field value
. This probability satisfies the equation [13]
existence of positive solutions of Eq. (C1) is equivalent
to the condition < , where is a certain constant
given by Eq. (C16) below. In other words, the existence
of nontrivial solutions of a nonlinear diffusion equation is
equivalent to a constraint on the dominant eigenvalue of
the corresponding linear diffusion operator. Also, it will
be shown that the positive solution G() is unique if it
exists.
1. Necessary condition
First we find a necessary condition: we suppose that a
positive solution G () of Eq. (C1) exists, and show that
< . If G() is this positive solution and P0 () is
an eigenfunction of L corresponding to the highest eigen-
value (),
L [P0 ] = P0 , (C9)
we
h consider the following integral over the range
i
(1) (2)
, that corresponds to inflation,

D0 X + v0 X 3 (1 X) ln (1 X) = 0, (C5) Z (2)

Z (2)

(L [P0 ] + P0 ) G d = ( ) P0 G d.
(1) (1)
(1,2)
with boundary conditions X( ) = 0. This equation (C10)
is also of the form (C1) if one uses the function Here is a free parameter to be chosen momentarily. The
K(X) = 3(1 X) ln(1 X). (C6) integral in the right-hand side of Eq. (C10) is positive be-
(1) (2)
cause P0 () > 0 within the open interval ( , ), and
We note that Ref. [13] did not derive sufficient conditions by assumption also G () > 0 on that interval. Therefore
for the existence of posivite solutions of Eq. (C5); we will if we choose to make the integral in the left-hand side
be able to find such conditions below. of Eq. (C10) positive, it will follow that < . Clearly
To obtain conditions for the existence of positive solu- this will be true for large enough ; our purpose now is
tion, we will extend some results known in the theory of to obtain a sharp bound on the required value of .
reaction-diffusion equations (see e.g. the book [39], Chap- Integrating the derivatives in the operator L [P0 ] in the
ter 9). The existence of positive solutions of Eq. (C1) is left-hand side of Eq. (C10) by parts, we obtain
related to the eigenvalues of the linearized operator Z
(2)
L [P0 ] G d = G (DP0 ) GvP0 G DP0 (1)

d2 d
L [P ()] [D () P ()] [v () P ()] . (C7)

d 2 d
Z
K (G()) P0 () d. (C11)
The relevant functional space consists of smooth func-
tions P () satisfying boundary conditions at the end-of-
(i)
The boundary conditions, Eqs. (C2), (C3) and (C8), to-
inflation boundaries , gether with the conditions that follow from the assump-
tion of the positivity of the solution,
[D()P ()]=(i) = 0. (C8)
(1) (2)
G ( ) > 0, G ( ) < 0, (C12)
On this functional space, the eigenvalue spectrum of the
operator L is discrete and bounded from above. More- give the inequality
over, the eigenfunction P0 () corresponding to the high- Z Z
est eigenvalue () is everywhere positive, P0 () > 0, L [P0 ] G d > K (G (())) P0 () d. (C13)
away from the boundary. These statements follow if we
note that the operator L can be reduced to an explic- This is equivalent to
d2
itly self-adjoint form, L = dz 2 + U (z), through a suit- Z Z
able change of variables z [34], or by noting that
(L [P0 ] + P0 ) G d > [G K (G)] P0 ()d.
L is self-adjoint with respect to the scalar product de-
fined by Eqs. (A4)(A5). Then, as I will show below, the (C14)
 11

If we now set to the supremum of the function K (G) /G are exponentially small. Therefore the integral (C18) is
on the interval (0, 1), changed by an exponentially small amount. It follows
that 2 is less than a number that is exponentially close
K (G) to 1 . Conversely, we use a slightly deformed f2 to derive
= sup > 0, (C15)
G(0,1) G an upper bound on 1 that is exponentially close to 2 .
It follows that 1 and 2 are exponentially close to each
then the integrand in the right-hand side of Eq. (C14) will other.
be nonnegative and not everywhere zero (this is because For this reason, below we will use the zero boundary
G is not everywhere equal to K (G) as long as G () conditions (C17).
is not everywhere zero and since the function K(G) is
not identically equal to G). We have thus obtained the
value of , namely = , for which the left-hand side 2. Estimates of
of Eq. (C10) is positive. Hence
We need to compute the value according to
K (G) Eq. (C16).
< sup . (C16)
G(0,1) G We first consider the function defined by Eq. (C6) and
find
Condition (C16) is thus a necessary condition for the
existence of nontrivial solutions of Eq. (C1). (1 x) ln (1 x)
= sup 3 = 3. (C19)
We note that the same argument goes through if we x(0,1) x
consider a simpler boundary condition,
This agrees with the result of Ref. [13] that if positive
(i)
P ( ) = 0, (C17) solutions of Eq. (C5) exist (and eternal points exist with
nonzero probability X() > 0) then < 3, that is, the
instead of Eq. (C8). The eigenvalues of the operator Fokker-Planck equation predicts an unbounded growth of
L with this boundary condition are almost the same as the volume in the inflating domain. (See Ref. [27]) for a
those with the boundary condition (C8), essentially be- discussion of the coordinate dependence of the volume.)
cause the boundary conditions are imposed in the do- The function K(G) relevant for Eq. (28) is
main where diffusion is negligible. The difference be-
tween eigenvalues is of the order of the boundary value of K (G) = 1 (G g,m (G)) , (C20)
(1,2)
the eigenfunction P0 ( ), which is exponentially small
compared if the values of P0 () within the inflating do- where g,m (x) was defined by Eq. (24). The evalua-
(1,2) tion of the supremum in Eq. (C16) can be achieved by
main are normalized to 1. The smallness of P0 ( )
the method of Appendix B if we note that the function
is of order exp(3N ), where N is the number of slow-
g,m (x) maps the interval (0, 1) bijectively onto itself,
roll inflationary e-foldings before reheating, which can
hence
be seen by considering the approximate solution in the
no-diffusion regime [34].
 
K (G) 1 g,m (G)
Let us show this more formally. The lowest eigenvalue sup = 1 inf
G(0,1) G G(0,1) G
of the operator L is found from the extremum prin-  
ciple, y
= 1 1 inf
y(0,1) f,m (y)
hf, Lf i
= inf , (C18) = 1 (1 pmin (, m)) , (C21)
f ()6=0 hf, f i
where pmin (, m) is defined by Eq. (B1). We may use
with the scalar product defined by Eqs. (A4)(A5) and Eq. (B9) with e3 to find
f satisfying the given boundary conditions. Let f1 and
f2 be two eigenfunctions corresponding to different sets m 1 m1+ 2m
1

of boundary conditions; for instance, one set could be () (2) 2m . (C22)

e1+3(1+ m )
1
m+1
zero boundary conditions and the other set could be the
boundary conditions (C8); also the boundary conditions Let us now obtain some numerical estimates. The
(1,2)
may be imposed at slightly different points near . value m = 1 is safe but too conservative. With m = 1
Suppose f1 and f2 have eigenvalues 1 and 2 , then we we get, for instance,
may try to use f1 as a test function in Eq. (C18) to obtain
an upper bound for 2 . In order for f1 to satisfy the same ( = 1) 4.1 103 , ( = 3) 2.9 107 . (C23)
boundary conditions as f2 , we need to deform f1 near the
boundary. The amount of deformation is of order of the Since a more realistic value of is = 2 or = 3, it is
typical values of f1 at the boundary. If f1 is normalized more realistic to set m = N = e , that is, to allow N out
such that hf, f i = 1, the values of f1 at the boundary of N 3 daughter cubes to fail the traversability condition.

Then we can use Eq. (C22) and obtain the corresponding
numerical values,
( = 2) 1 103 , ( = 3) 2 104 . (C24)
If we take = 3 as a reference value, the conclusion is
that the reheated regions definitely merge if the fractal
dimension of the eternal set is above 32104 = 2.9998.
3. Sufficient condition for Eq. (C5)
Finding a sufficient condition for the existence of posi-
tive solutions of Eq. (C1) requires a more detailed analy-
sis. We will treat only the one-dimensional case, i.e. the
case of a single scalar field , but the argument can be
generalized to the case of multi-dimensional field with-
out significant changes.
We begin by considering Eq. (C5), which is of the
form (C1) with K defined by Eq. (C6). The function
K(X) has an unbounded derivative as y 1. This will
turn out to be a problem for the further analysis and is
circumvented as follows. It was shown in Ref. [24] that
a real-valued solution X() of Eq. (C5) cannot reach the
value X = 1 unless that solution is identically equal to
1. Solutions X() 0 and X() 1 always exist and
are trivial, i.e. not of physical significance. Therefore
we may assume that a nontrivial positive solution X(),
if it exists, is bounded away from X = 1. This property
can be equivalently expressed by saying that there ex-
ists a constant A > 0 such that |K (X())| < A for all .
Then we use this value A to rewrite Eq. (C5) equivalently
as
[L + A]X = K(X) + AX h(X), (C25)
where the operator L entering Eq. (C5) is the formal
adjoint to L,
2 with boundary conditions GL ( , 1 ) = 0 and
L D0 () 2 + v0 () . (C26)
The constituents of Eq. (C25) have the following proper-
ties: The operator L + A has all positive eigenvalues,
while the function h(X) satisfies h(0) = 0, h(X) 0,
and 0 < h (X) < 3 + A for all relevant X, so that h(X)
monotonically grows, and also h(X)/X decreases mono-
tonically for all relevant X, while
h(X)
sup = 3 + A. (C27)
X(0,1) X
Under these numerous conditions, we can demonstrate
the existence and uniqueness of positive solutions using
the techniques of nonlinear functional analysis following
the method of Ref. [39] (chapter 9). We first rewrite
Eq. (C25) as
X = [L + A]1 h(X) T [X], (C28) values of . Hence, GL has the same sign and is nonzero
12
where [L + A]1 is the Greens function of the operator
(1,2)
L + A with zero boundary conditions at = . We
have introduced the nonlinear operator T in Eq. (C28)
in order to exhibit the iteration structure, X = T [X],
of this equation. We will now demonstrate the existence
and uniqueness of positive solutions to this equation.
The idea of the construction is to find an initial func-
tion X0 > 0 such that the consecutive iterations of
Eq. (C28) yield an increasing sequence of functions,
Xn+1 () = T [Xn ], such that Xn+1 Xn . To compare
functions, let us write for brevity f g if f () g() for
(1) (2)
all ( , ). We will also show that the sequence
Xn is bounded from above and hence has a limit, X (),
which is a solution of Eq. (C28). Then we will prove that
this solution is unique.
First, we note that the operator T is monotonically
increasing in the sense that T [f ] T [g] if f g. This
property can be verified by considering
T [f ] T [g] = [L + A]1 (h(f ) h(g)). (C29)
Since h(x) monotonically grows (by construction) for all
x [0, 1], we have h(f ) h(g) > 0 if f > g. On the
other hand, the Greens function GL (, ) of the positive
operator L + A is positive, GL (, ) > 0, so that
Z
[L + A] f () = d GL (, )f ( ) > 0
1
(C30)
if f > 0. To demonstrate that GL > 0, we first show that
GL cannot be equal to zero except at the boundaries.
Suppose that GL (, ) = 0 for some = 1 and = 1
(1) (2)
within the open interval ( , ). Then GL (, 1 ) for
fixed = 1 can be thought of as a solution of the
equation
[L + A] GL (, 1 ) = ( ) (C31)
(1,2)
(1)
GL (1 , 1 ) = 0. One of the intervals I1 ( , 1 ) or
(2)
I2 (1 , ) does not contain 1 . Let us, without loss
of generality, assume that it is I1 that does not contain
1 . Then GL (, 1 ) satisfies a homogeneous equation,
[L + A] GL (, 1 ) = 0, (C32)
with zero boundary conditions at the boundaries of the
interval I1 . Any such solution would be an eigenfunc-
tion of L + A with zero boundary conditions at the
boundaries of I1 . However, the operator L + A has
all positive eigenvalues with zero boundary conditions on
(1) (2)
the interval ( , ) while its eigenvalues with zero
boundary conditions on a smaller interval are strictly
larger. Hence, L + A has no zero eigenfunctions, so
GL (, 1 ) = 0 for all I1 . However, GL (, 1 ) is a
solution of second-order differential equation and so can-
not be identically equal to zero throughout an interval of

everywhere. It remains to show that GL is everywhere
positive rather than everywhere negative. The positivity
of GL follows if we consider the eigenfunction f0 () of
L + A with the smallest eigenvalue, which is equal to
+ A,
[L + A] f0 () = ( + A) f0 (). (C33)
Such an eigenfunction f0 () can be chosen everywhere
positive and is nondegenerate. Note that the scalar prod-
uct
Z (2)
1 f = [L + A]1 h(f )
hf1 , f2 i d f1 ()f2 () , (C34)
(1)
M ()
where M () is defined by Eq. (A5), makes the operator
L formally self-adjoint. Taking this scalar product of f0
with GL (, ) and using Eq. (C31), we find
h( + A) f0 , GL i = h(L + A) f0 , GL i
= hf0 , (L + A) GL i
Z (2)
= f0 ()( )d = f0 ( ) > 0. words, X is the minimal positive solution.
(1)
(C35)
Since the integral of GL with a positive function (+A)f0
is positive, it follows that GL (, ) > 0.
Second, we need to find an initial function X0 () such
that T [X0 ] X0 . This function can be chosen as f0 (),
where > 0 is a sufficiently small constant and f0 () is
the positive eigenfunction satisfying Eq. (C33). Then we
have
h(f0 ) = K(f0 ) + Af0 = [K (0) + A] f0 + O( 2 ).
(C36)
We may choose sufficiently small so that f0 < 1 and
that the terms O( 2 ) in the above equation are negligible;
then we obtain
K (0) + A
T [f0 ] = [L + A]1 h(f0 ) f0 > f0 ,
+A
(C37)
where we used the relationships
K(x)
K (0) = 3 = sup > . (C38)
x(0,1) x
Note that the coincidence of the values K (0) and is
related to the fact that K(x)/x is monotonically decreas-
ing in x starting from x = 0.
Having found X0 f0 such that T [X0 ] > X0 and
using the increasing property of T , we find that the se-
quence Xn+1 T [Xn ] is increasing, Xn+1 > Xn . We
need to prove that the sequence Xn is bounded from
above. Consider the constant function X() = 1; it is
clear that [L + A]c = Ac for any constant c, and hence
[L + A]1 c = A1 c. Therefore
T [1] = [L + A]1 h(1) = 1. (C39)
13
Since T is an increasing operator, and since X0 < 1, it fol-
lows by induction that all Xn < 1. Hence, the sequence
Xn has a limit, X (), since that sequence is increasing
and bounded from above. The function X () is a solu-
tion of X = T [X ] and hence is a positive solution of
Eq. (C5).
Uniqueness of this positive solution can be demon-
strated as follows. First we note that the solution X ()
is the minimal positive solution; for suppose that f () is
any solution, then f () is positive since
(C40)
while h(f ) > 0 and the Greens function is also positive.
Then we can show that f > f0 for sufficiently small
. A positive solution f () cannot have zero deriva-
tives and at the same time zero values at the boundaries.
Hence, the derivatives of f are nonzero at the bound-
aries. Then there exists a sufficiently small such that
f > f0 X0 . It follows from f > X0 and from the
increasing property of T that T [f ] > T [X0 ] X1 , and so
by induction f > Xn for any n. Hence f X ; in other
It remains to show that there are no other positive
solutions larger than X (). Suppose f1 and f2 are two
different positive solutions such that f1 > f2 . Since L is
self-adjoint with respect to the scalar product (C34), we
can perform the following computation,
0 = hLf1 , f2 i hf1 , Lf2 i = hK(f 1 ), f2 i + hf1 , K(f2 )i
Z (2)  
d K(f2 ) K(f1 )
= f1 f2 . (C41)
(1) M () f2 f1
This is a contradiction since f2 > f1 while the function
K(x)/x is strictly monotonically decreasing for all rele-
vant x > 0, so the last integrand is everywhere positive.
Therefore, we cannot have another solution f such that
f > X , so the positive solution X is unique.
The conclusion is that Eq. (C5) has unique positive
solutions as long as the lowest eigenvalue of the oper-
ator L with zero boundary conditions satisfies < 3.
This eigenvalue is exponentially close to the lowest eigen-
value of the operator L with boundary conditions (C8).
The proof depends on certain technical properties of the
function K(X) defined by Eq. (C6), namely
K(x)
K(0) = K(1) = 0, K (0) = 3 = sup , (C42)
x(0,1) x
on the monotonic behavior of K(x)/x, and on the fact
that solutions do not reach X() = 1 and so there exists
a constant A such that h(x) K(x) + Ax is a monoton-
ically increasing function for all relevant values of x.
4. Sufficient condition for Eq. (32)
We now pass to the analysis of Eq. (32), for which
the function K(G) is given by Eq. (C4). This function

does not satisfy all of the technical conditions used in
the derivation in Sec. C 3, and the analysis needs to be
modified.
First, we would like to rewrite Eq. (32) in the
form (C28), such that T is an increasing operator. For
this we need to find a constant A such that K(x)+Ax is a
monotonically increasing function of x. However, this is
impossible because K(x) has unbounded negative deriva-
tive at x = 0 and x = 1. Also K(x)/x is monotonically
increasing for all x (0, 1) except a narrow interval of
values near x = 1. This can be seen from Eq. (B5),
1
" # m+1
g,m (1 ) 1

, (C43)
m+1
which yields
K(x) g,m (x) 1
= 1 const (1 x) m+1 , x 1.
x x
(C44)
Similarly to the considerations for Eq. (C5) we need to
limit the range of G away from 1. Since G() is a proba-
bility of an event that does not always happen, solutions
G() cannot reach G = 1. There is an upper bound
Gmax < 1 on solutions G(), and hence there exists a
constant A > 0 such that K(G) + AG is monotonically
increasing for all relevant values of G near G 1.
There remains another obstacle: In order to show the
existence of positive solutions G(), we need to construct
a monotonically increasing and bounded sequence qn ()
that converges to a solution. This time, in contrast with
Sec. C 3, we cannot start with q0 () = f0 () with a very
small because the function K(G) has unbounded nega-
tive derivative at G = 0. Also, it is impossible to choose
a constant A such that K(G) + AG is monotonically in-
creasing near G = 0. This time we cannot avoid values
(1,2)
G 0 because of boundary conditions, G( ) = 0. To
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