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We study the statistics of Hamiltonian cycles on various families of bicolored random planar maps (with the spherical topology). These families fall into two groups corresponding to two distinct universality classes with respective central charges $c=-1$ and $c=-2$. The first group includes generic $p$-regular maps with vertices of fixed valency $p\geq 3$, whereas the second group comprises maps with vertices of mixed valencies, and the so-called rigid case of $2q$-regular maps ($q\geq 2$) for which, at each vertex, the unvisited edges are equally distributed on both sides of the cycle. We predict for each class its universal configuration exponent $\gamma$, as well as a new universal critical exponent $\nu$ characterizing the number of long-distance contacts along the Hamiltonian cycle. These exponents are theoretically obtained by using the Knizhnik, Polyakov and Zamolodchikov (KPZ) relations, with the appropriate values of the central charge, applied, in the case of $\nu$, to the corresponding critical exponent on regular (hexagonal or square) lattices. These predictions are numerically confirmed by analyzing exact enumeration results for $p$-regular maps with $p=3,4,\ldots,7$, and for maps with mixed valencies $(2,3)$, $(2,4)$ and $(3,4)$., Comment: 41 pages, 19 figures, 9 tables

There is a simple way to "glue together" a coupled pair of continuum random trees (CRTs) to produce a topological sphere. The sphere comes equipped with a measure and a space-filling curve (which describes the "interface" between the trees). We present an explicit and canonical way to embed the sphere in ${\mathbf C} \cup \{ \infty \}$. In this embedding, the measure is Liouville quantum gravity (LQG) with parameter $\gamma \in (0,2)$, and the curve is space-filling SLE$_{\kappa'}$ with $\kappa' = 16/\gamma^2$. Achieving this requires us to develop an extensive suite of tools for working with LQG surfaces. We explain how to conformally weld so-called "quantum wedges" to obtain new quantum wedges of different weights. We construct finite-volume quantum disks and spheres of various types, and give a Poissonian description of the set of quantum disks cut off by a boundary-intersecting SLE$_{\kappa}(\rho)$ process with $\kappa \in (0,4)$. We also establish a L\'evy tree description of the set of quantum disks to the left (or right) of an SLE$_{\kappa'}$ with $\kappa' \in (4,8)$. We show that given two such trees, sampled independently, there is a.s. a canonical way to "zip them together" and recover the SLE$_{\kappa'}$. The law of the CRT pair we study was shown in an earlier paper to be the scaling limit of the discrete tree/dual-tree pair associated to an FK-decorated random planar map (RPM). Together, these results imply that FK-decorated RPM scales to CLE-decorated LQG in a certain "tree structure" topology., Comment: 209 pages, approximately 60 figures; revised

We complete the mathematical analysis of the fine structure of harmonic measure on SLE curves that was initiated by Beliaev and Smirnov, as described by the averaged integral means spectrum. For the unbounded version of whole-plane SLE as studied by Duplantier, Nguyen, Nguyen and Zinsmeister, and Loutsenko and Yermolayeva, a phase transition has been shown to occur for high enough moments from the bulk spectrum towards a novel spectrum related to the point at infinity. For the bounded version of whole-plane SLE studied here, a similar transition phenomenon, now associated with the SLE origin, is proved to exist for low enough moments, but we show that it is superseded by the earlier occurrence of the transition to the SLE tip spectrum., Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure; final version

We argue that the Hausdorff dimension D of a quantum gravity random surface is always D=4, irrespective of the conformal central charge c, c between -2 and 1, of a critical statistical model possibly borne by it. The Knizhnik-Polyakov-Zamolodchikov (KPZ) relation allows one to determine the dimension D from the exact Hausdorff dimension of random maps with large faces, recently rigorously studied by Le Gall and Miermont, and reformulated by Borot, Bouttier and Guitter as a loop model on a random quadrangulation. This contradicts several earlier conjectured formulae for D in terms of c.

In these Notes, a comprehensive description of the universal fractal geometry of conformally-invariant scaling curves or interfaces, in the plane or half-plane, is given. The present approach focuses on deriving critical exponents associated with interacting random paths, by exploiting their underlying quantum gravity structure. The latter relates exponents in the plane to those on a random lattice, i.e., in a fluctuating metric, using the so-called Knizhnik, Polyakov and Zamolodchikov (KPZ) map. This is accomplished within the framework of random matrix theory and conformal field theory, with applications to geometrical critical models, like Brownian paths, self-avoiding walks, percolation, and more generally, the O(N) or Q-state Potts models and, last but not least, Schramm's Stochastic Loewner Evolution (SLE_kappa). These Notes can be considered as complementary to those by Wendelin Werner (2006 Fields Medalist!), ``Some Recent Aspects of Random Conformally Invariant Systems,'' arXiv:math.PR/0511268., Comment: 116 pages, 45 figures. Les Houches 2005 Lecture Notes. Based on the previous research survey article ``Conformal Fractal Geometry and Boundary Quantum Gravity,'' arXiv:math-ph/0303034 [in: ``Fractal Geometry and Applications: A Jubilee of Benoit Mandelbrot'' (M. L. Lapidus and M.van Frankenhuysen, eds.), Proc.Symposia Pure Math. vol. 72, Part 2, 365-482 (AMS, Providence, R.I., 2004], here augmented by introductory sections, explanatory figures and some new material. Supplementary technical appendices can be found in the foregoing reference

We consider a model of a D-dimensional tethered manifold interacting by excluded volume in R^d with a single point. Use of intrinsic distance geometry provides a rigorous definition of the analytic continuation of the perturbative expansion for arbitrary D, 0 < D < 2. Its one-loop renormalizability is first established by direct resummation. A renormalization operation R is then described, which ensures renormalizability to all orders. The similar question of the renormalizability of the self-avoiding manifold (SAM) Edwards model is then considered, first at one-loop, then to all orders. We describe a short-distance multi-local operator product expansion, which extends methods of local field theories to a large class of models with non-local singular interactions. It vindicates the direct renormalization method used earlier in part I of these lectures, as well as the corresponding scaling laws., 32 pages, 9 figures, Second Part and extensive update of Lecture Notes originally given in ``Statistical Mechanics of Membranes and Surfaces'', Fifth Jerusalem Winter School for Theoretical Physics (1987), D. R. Nelson, T. Piran,and S. Weinberg eds

The harmonic measure (or diffusion field or electrostatic potential) near a percolation cluster in two dimensions is considered. Its moments, summed over the accessible external hull, exhibit a multifractal spectrum, which I calculate exactly. The generalized dimensions D(n) as well as the MF function f(alpha) are derived from generalized conformal invariance, and are shown to be identical to those of the harmonic measure on 2D random walks or self-avoiding walks. An exact application to the anomalous impedance of a rough percolative electrode is given. The numerical checks are excellent. Another set of exact and universal multifractal exponents is obtained for n independent self-avoiding walks anchored at the boundary of a percolation cluster. These exponents describe the multifractal scaling behavior of the average nth moment of the probabity for a SAW to escape from the random fractal boundary of a percolation cluster in two dimensions., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures (in colors)