Inhomogeneous contact processes on trees

We consider an inhomogeneous contact process on a tree of degreek, where the infection rate at any site isλ, the death rate at any site in isδ (with 0 <δ ⩽ 1) and that at any site in is 1. Denote by the critical value for thehomogeneous model (i.e.,δ=1) on and byϑ(δ, λ) the survival probability of the inhomogeneous model on . We prove that whenk > 4, if , a subtree embedded in , with 1 ⩽σ ⩽ √k, then three existsδ _c ^σ strictly between ( ) and 1 such that ( ) whenδ >δ _c ^σ andϑ(δ, λ _c( ) > 0 whenδ <δ _c ^σ ; ifS={o}, the origin of , then for anyδ ε (0, 1).