Random stable laminations of the disk (Q2447339)

The author studies random dissections \({\mathfrak I}_n\) of a regular polygon with \(n\) sides, chosen according to Boltzmann weights in the domain of attraction of a stable law of index \(\theta\in(1,2]\), as \(n\to\infty\). (A dissection of a polygon is the union of the sides of the polygon and of a collection of diagonals that may intersect only at their endpoints.) Observing that the dual graph of \({\mathfrak I}_n\) is a Galton-Watson tree conditioned on having \(n\) leaves, the author uses his previously published limit theory for such trees [Stochastic Processes Appl. 122, No. 9, 3126--3172 (2012; Zbl 1259.60103)] to prove that \({\mathfrak I}_n\) converges in distribution, as \(n\to\infty\), to a random compact set, called the random stable lamination (RSL). (The case \(\theta=2\) corresponds to \textit{D. Aldous'} Brownian triangulation [Am. Math. Mon. 101, No. 3, 223--233 (1994; Zbl 0804.52011) and Ann. Probab. 22, No. 2, 527--545 (1994; Zbl 0808.60017)].) In general, the RSL turns out to be the union of the unit circle and infinitely many non-crossing chords, which can be coded by the continuous-time height function associated with the normalized excursion of a strictly stable, spectrally positive Lévy process of index \(\theta\). Using this coding, the Hausdorff dimension of the RSL is found to be a.s. equal to \(2 -1/\theta\).