Approximating spin systems on planar graphs

Abstract

We show that the hard-core partition function admits a fully polynomial-time randomised approximation scheme (FPRAS) on planar graphs when the activity is a sufficiently small constant. In contrast, we show that for any constant $q\ge 4$, approximately counting $q$-colourings in planar graphs is NP-hard. We also give a complete characterisation of when an FPRAS exists for a sufficiently small external field for 2-spin systems on planar graphs. The main ideas of all proofs were found using GPT-5.6 Sol Ultra.

16 pages. v2: update a connection with [LO25], fix Cref issue