Potts and random cluster measures on locally regular-tree-like graphs

Fixing $\beta \ge 0$ and an integer $q \ge 2$, consider the ferromagnetic $q$-Potts measures $\mu_n^{\beta,B}$ on finite graphs ${\sf G}_n$ on $n$ vertices, with external field strength $B \ge 0$ and the corresponding random cluster measures $\varphi^{q,\beta,B}_{n}$. Suppose that as $n \to \infty$ the uniformly sparse graphs ${\sf G}_n$ converge locally to an infinite $d$-regular tree ${\sf T}_{d}$, $d \ge 3$. We show that the convergence of the Potts free energy density to its Bethe replica symmetric prediction (which has been proved in case $d$ is even, or when $B=0$), yields the local weak convergence of $\varphi^{q,\beta,B}_n$ and $\mu_n^{\beta,B}$ to the corresponding free or wired random cluster measure, Potts measure, respectively, on ${\sf T}_{d}$. The choice of free versus wired limit is according to which has the larger Potts Bethe functional value, with mixtures of these two appearing {as limit points on} the critical line $\beta_c(q,B)$ where these two values of the Bethe functional coincide. For $B=0$ and $\beta>\beta_c$, we further establish a pure-state decomposition by showing that conditionally on the same dominant color $1 \le k \le q$, the $q$-Potts measures on such edge-expander graphs ${\sf G}_n$ converge locally to the $q$-Potts measure on ${\sf T}_{d}$ with a boundary wired at color $k$.