Jammed systems of oriented needles always percolate on square lattices.

Abstract

Random sequential adsorption (RSA) is a standard method of modeling adsorption of large molecules at the liquid-solid interface. Several studies have recently conjectured that in the RSA of rectangular needles, or k-mers, on a square lattice, percolation is impossible if the needles are sufficiently long (k of order of several thousand). We refute these claims and present rigorous proof that in any jammed configuration of nonoverlapping, fixed-length, horizontal, or vertical needles on a square lattice, all clusters are percolating clusters.