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The study of statistical mechanical
systems at critical points in two dimensions leads to the consideration of
conformally-invariant (CI) scaling curves, for example the boundaries of
clusters. This set of lectures gives a comprehensive description of the
fractal geometry of such CI scaling curves, in the plane or half-plane.
It focuses on deriving critical exponents associated with interacting random
paths, by exploiting an underlying quantum gravity (QG) structure. It makes
use of Knizhnik, Polyakov and Zamolodchikov (KPZ) maps relating exponents in
the plane to those on a random lattice, i.e., in a fluctuating metric. This
is done within the framework of conformal Field theory (CFT), with
applications to well-recognized critical models, like Brownian paths, O(N)
and Potts models, and to the Stochastic Löwner Evolution (SLE).
Two fundamental ingredients of the QG construction are the relation between
bulk and Dirichlet boundary exponents, and establishing additivity rules for
QG boundary conformal dimensions associated with mutually-avoiding random
sets.
A general reference for the content of these lectures is [1].
The first lecture will be devoted to the non-intersection exponents for
random walks (RW's) or Brownian paths, self-avoiding walks (SAW's), or
arbitrary mixtures thereof in the plane. I shall give a description of the
partition functions of collections of such walks on a random lattice, and
calculate those partition functions by elementary applications of random
matrix theory. From those and the KPZ relation I shall derive in particular
the non-intersection exponents of Brownian paths in the plane [1, 2]. The
general structure of the scaling behavior of the partition functions so
derived will also be used to established general quantum gravity additivity
rules for scaling exponents, to be used in the following lectures.
The second lecture will focus on the multifractal properties of the harmonic
measure (i.e., electrostatic potential, or diffusion field) near any
conformally invariant fractal boundary in the plane. The multifractal
function f(\alpha; c) gives the Hausdorff dimension of the set of points
where the potential varies with distance r to the fractal frontier as
r^\alpha, and is given as a function of the central charge c of the
associated CFT. It is obtained from
the general QG approach described above.
Brownian paths, SAW's in the scaling limit, and critical percolation
clusters all have identical spectra corresponding to the same central charge
c = 0. The common Hausdorff dimension of their frontiers is D = sup_{\aplpha}
f(\alpha; c = 0) = 4/3, which confirms Mandelbrot's conjecture for the
Brownian frontier dimension. It has been proven rigorously by Lawler,
Schramm, and Werner [3]. Higher multifractal functions, like the double
spectrum f_2(\alpha; \alpha' ; c) of the double-sided harmonic measure, will
also be considered.
The third lecture will deal with the universal mixed multifractal spectrum
f(\alpha; \lambda; c) describing the local winding rate \lambda and
singularity exponent \alpha of the harmonic measure near any CI scaling
curve [4]. It gives a probabilistic description of the geometry of
equipotentials near the CI curve, which appear as a collection of
logarithmic spirals of varying rates \lambda.
The Hausdorff dimensions D_H of a non-simple scaling curve or cluster hull,
and D_{EP} of its external perimeter or frontier, obey the duality equation
(D_H - 1)(D_{EP} - 1) = 1/4 , valid for any value of the central charge c.
The duality which exists between simple and non-simple random paths is
established via an extended KPZ relation for the SLE. It reflects a duality
property \kappa \to \kappa ' = 16/ \kappa for the SLE_{\kappa}, where the
SLE_{\kappa ' < 4} is the frontier of
the non-simple SLE_{\kappa > 4} path. This allows one to calculate the SLE
multi-fractal exponents from simple QG rules.
Finally, I address the question of the mathematically rigorous derivation of
the multifractal spectra for the SLE.
References
[1] B. Duplantier, Conformal fractal geometry and boundary quantum gravity,
in "Fractal geometry and Applications: A Jubilee of Benoit Mandelbrot",
Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics, vol. 72, Part 2, M. L. Lapidus
and M. van Frankenhuijsen eds., AMS, 2004; also at arXiv:math-phys/0303034.
[2] G. F. Lawler, O. Schramm, and W.Werner, Acta Math. 187, (I) 237-273,
(II) 275-308 (2001), arXiv:math.PR/9911084, arXiv:math.PR/0003156; Ann.
Inst. Henri Poincare PR 38, 109-123 (2002), arXiv:math.PR/0005294.
[3] G. F. Lawler, O. Schramm, and W. Werner, Math. Res. Lett. 8, 401-411
(2001), arXiv:math.PR/0010165; Acta Math. 189, 179-201 (2002), arXiv:math.PR/0005295.
[4] B. Duplantier and I. A. Binder, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 264101 (2002);
arXiv:cond-mat/0208045.
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