Discrete Dirac operators, critical embeddings and Ihara-Selberg functions (Q490310)

Summary: The aim of the paper is to formulate a discrete analogue of the claim made by \textit{L. Alvarez-Gaume} et al. [Commun. Math. Phys. 112, 503--552 (1987; Zbl 0647.14019)], realizing the partition function of the free fermion on a closed Riemann surface of genus \(g\) as a linear combination of \(2^{2g}\) Pfaffians of Dirac operators. Let \(G=(V,E)\) be a finite graph embedded in a closed Riemann surface \(X\) of genus \(g\), \(x_e\) the collection of independent variables associated with each edge \(e\) of \(G\) (collected in one vector variable \(x\)) and \(\Sigma\) the set of all \(2^{2g}\) spin-structures on \(X\). We introduce \(2^{2g}\) rotations \(\operatorname{rot}_s\) and \((2|E|\times 2|E|)\) matrices \(\Delta(s)(x)\), \(s\in \Sigma\), of the transitions between the oriented edges of \(G\) determined by rotations \(\operatorname{rot}_s\). We show that the generating function of the even sets of edges of \(G\), i.e., the Ising partition function, is a linear combination of the square roots of \(2^{2g}\) Ihara-Selberg functions \(I(\Delta(s)(x))\) also called Feynman functions. By a result of \textit{D. Foata} and \textit{D. Zeilberger} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 351, No. 6, 2257--2274 (1999; Zbl 0921.05025)] \(I(\Delta(s)(x))=\det(I-\Delta'(s)(x))\), where \(\Delta'(s)(x)\) is obtained from \(\Delta(s)(x)\) by replacing some entries by \(0\). Thus each Feynman function is computable in a polynomial time. We suggest that in the case of critical embedding of a bipartite graph \(G\), the Feynman functions provide suitable discrete analogues for the Pfaffians of Dirac operators.