We provide a representation for the scaling limit of the d=2 critical Ising magnetization field as a (conformal) random field using SLE (Schramm-Loewner Evolution) clusters and associated renormalized area measures. The renormalized areas are from the scaling limit of the critical FK (Fortuin-Kasteleyn) clusters and the random field is a convergent sum of the area measures with random signs. Extensions to off-critical scaling limits, to d=3 and to Potts models are also considered.
We construct discrete holomorphic observables in the Ising model at criticality and show that they have conformally covariant scaling limits (as mesh of the lattice tends to zero). In the sequel those observables are used to construct conformally invariant scaling limits of interfaces. Though Ising model is often cited as a classical example of conformal invariance, it seems that ours is the first paper where it is actually established.
We study the continuum scaling limit of the critical Ising magnetization in two dimensions. We prove the existence of subsequential limits, discuss connections with the scaling limit of critical FK clusters, and describe work in progress of the author with C. Garban and C.M. Newman.
We provide a review of results on the critical and near-critical scaling limit of the planar Ising magnetization field obtained in the past dozen years. The results are presented in the framework of coupled loop and measure ensembles, and some new proofs are provided.
We prove that crossing probabilities for the critical planar Ising model with free boundary conditions are conformally invariant in the scaling limit, a phenomenon first investigated numerically by Langlands, Lewis and Saint-Aubin. We do so by establishing the convergence of certain exploration processes towards SLE$(3,\frac{-3}2,\frac{-3}2)$. We also construct an exploration tree for free boundary conditions, analogous to the one introduced by Sheffield.
It is widely believed that the celebrated 2D Ising model at criticality has a universal and conformally invariant scaling limit, which is used in deriving many of its properties. However, no mathematical proof of universality and conformal invariance has ever been given, and even physics arguments support (a priori weaker) Möbius invariance. We introduce discrete holomorphic fermions for the 2D Ising model at criticality on a large family of planar graphs. We show that on bounded domains with appropriate boundary conditions, those have universal and conformally invariant scaling limits, thus p…
We explain how the axioms of Conformal Field Theory are used to make predictions about critical exponents of continuous phase transitions in three dimensions, via a procedure called the conformal bootstrap. The method assumes conformal invariance of correlation functions, and imposes some relations between correlation functions of different orders. Numerical analysis shows that these conditions are incompatible unless the critical exponents take particular values, or more precisely that they must belong to a small island in the parameter space.
This is the second in a series of three articles about recovering the full algebraic structure of a boundary conformal field theory (CFT) from the scaling limit of the critical Ising model in slit-strip geometry. Here we study the fusion coefficients of the Ising model in the lattice slit-strip, with locally monochromatic boundary conditions. The fusion coefficients are certain renormalized limits of boundary correlation functions at the three extremities of the truncated lattice slit-strips, in a basis of random variables whose correlation functions have an essentially exponential dependence …
We rigorously prove the existence and the conformal invariance of scaling limits of the magnetization and multi-point spin correlations in the critical Ising model on arbitrary simply connected planar domains. This solves a number of conjectures coming from the physical and the mathematical literature. The proof relies on convergence results for discrete holomorphic spinor observables and probabilistic techniques.
We study the 2-dimensional Ising model at critical temperature on a simply connected subset $Ω_δ$ of the square grid $δ\mathbb{Z}^{2}$. The scaling limit of the critical Ising model is conjectured to be described by Conformal Field Theory; in particular, there is expected to be a precise correspondence between local lattice fields of the Ising model and the local fields of Conformal Field Theory. Towards the proof of this correspondence, we analyze arbitrary spin pattern probabilities (probabilities of finite spin configurations occurring at the origin), explicitly obtain their infinite-volume…
We introduce Kadanoff-Ceva order-disorder operators in the quantum Ising model. This approach was first used for the classical planar Ising model and recently put back to the stage. This representation turns out to be equivalent to the loop expansion of Sminorv's fermionic observables and is particularly interesting due to its simple and compact formulation. Using this approach, we are able to extend different results known in the classical planar Ising model, such as the conformal invariance/covariance of correlations and the energy-density, to the spin-representation of the (1+1) dimensional…
In this article we show the convergence of a loop ensemble of interfaces in the FK Ising model at criticality, as the lattice mesh tends to zero, to a unique conformally invariant scaling limit. The discrete loop ensemble is described by a canonical tree glued from the interfaces, which then is shown to converge to a tree of branching SLEs. The loop ensemble contains unboundedly many loops and hence our result describes the joint law of infinitely many loops in terms of SLE type processes, and the result gives the full scaling limit of the FK Ising model in the sense of random geometry of the …
These lecture notes provide a (almost) self-contained account on conformal invariance of the planar critical Ising and FK-Ising models. They present the theory of discrete holomorphic functions and its applications to planar statistical physics (more precisely to the convergence of fermionic observables). Convergence to SLE is discussed briefly. Many open questions are included.
Under some general assumptions, we construct the scaling limit of open clusters and their associated counting measures in a class of two dimensional percolation models. Our results apply, in particular, to critical Bernoulli site percolation on the triangular lattice and to the critical FK-Ising model on the square lattice. Fundamental properties of the scaling limit, such as conformal covariance, are explored. As an application to Bernoulli percolation, we obtain the scaling limit of the largest cluster in a bounded domain. We also apply our results to the critical, two-dimensional Ising mode…
In the second article of this series, we establish the convergence of the loop ensemble of interfaces in the random cluster Ising model to a conformal loop ensemble (CLE) --- thus completely describing the scaling limit of the model in terms of the random geometry of interfaces. The central tool of the present article is the convergence of an exploration tree of the discrete loop ensemble to a branching SLE$(16/3,-2/3)$. Such branching version of the Schramm's SLE not only enjoys the locality property, but also arises logically from the Ising model observables.
Schramm Loewner Evolution (SLE) is a one-parameter family of random planar curves introduced by Oded Schramm in 1999 as the candidates for the scaling limits of the interfaces in the planar critical lattice models. This is the only possible process with conformal invariance and a certain "domain Markov property". In 2010, Chelkak and Smirnov proved the conformal invariance of the scaling limits of the critial planar FK-Ising model which gave the convergence of the interface to SLE$_{16/3}$. We derive the arm exponents of SLE$_κ$ for $κ\in (4,8)$. Combining with the convergence of the interface…
In this paper, we consider the set of interfaces between + and - spins arising for the critical planar Ising model on a domain with + boundary conditions, and show that it converges towards CLE(3). Our proof relies on the study of the coupling between the Ising model and its random cluster (FK) representation, and of the interactions between FK and Ising interfaces. The main idea is to construct an exploration process starting from the boundary of the domain, to discover the Ising loops and to establish its convergence to a conformally invariant limit. The challenge is that Ising loops do not …
In this essay, we briefly discuss recent developments, started a decade ago in the seminal work of Smirnov and continued by a number of authors, centered around the conformal invariance of the critical planar Ising model on $\mathbb{Z}^2$ and, more generally, of the critical Z-invariant Ising model on isoradial graphs (rhombic lattices). We also introduce a new class of embeddings of general weighted planar graphs (s-embeddings), which might, in particular, pave the way to true universality results for the planar Ising model.
We consider the Ising model at its critical temperature with external magnetic field $ha^{15/8}$ on the square lattice with lattice spacing $a$. We show that the truncated two-point function in this model decays exponentially with a rate independent of $a$. As a consequence, we show exponential decay in the near-critical scaling limit Euclidean magnetization field. For the lattice model with $a=1$, the mass (inverse correlation length) is of order $h^{8/15}$ as $h\downarrow 0$; for the Euclidean field, it equals exactly $Ch^{8/15}$ for some $C$. Although there has been much progress in the stu…
Many 2D lattice models of physical phenomena are conjectured to have conformally invariant scaling limits: percolation, Ising model, self-avoiding polymers, ... This has led to numerous exact (but non-rigorous) predictions of their scaling exponents and dimensions. We will discuss how to prove the conformal invariance conjectures, especially in relation to Schramm-Loewner Evolution.
We find by simulation that the interfaces in the exclusive-or (XOR) of two independent 2D Ising spin configurations at the critical temperature form an ensemble of loops that have the same distribution as the contour lines of the Gaussian free field, but with the heights of the contours spaced \sqrt{2} times as far apart as they are for the conformal loop ensemble CLE_4 or the double dimer model on the square lattice. For domains with boundary, various natural boundary conditions for the two Ising models correspond to certain boundary heights for the Gaussian free field.