Exploration trees and conformal loop ensembles (Q1006533)

Two-dimensional statistical physics models often involve random collections of disjoint, non-intersecting loops in a planar lattice. The paper departs from a conjecture: when suitable boundary conditions are set in a random loop model on a simply connected planar domain, then as the grid size gets finer, the law of a random path connecting a pair of boundary points converges to the law of the chordal Schramm-Loewner evolution. The primary purpose of the paper is to investigate a family of candidate loop collections that have a scaling limit, called conformal loop ensembles. A secondary purpose is to formulate a series of conjectures and open questions for these ensembles, like e.g. about a continuum analog of the Fortuin-Kasteleyn cluster expansion for the Potts model, or scaling limits of the q-state Potts models. The focus is on hexagonal lattice graphs and so-called O(N) loop models. Bessel, skew Levy and Schramm-Loewner processes are considered. The radia Schramm-Loewner evolutions are found to be most natural candidates for the limiting laws of the exploration tree.