SLE is a random growth process based on Loewner's equation with driving parameter a one-dimensional Brownian motion running with speed $κ$. This process is intimately connected with scaling limits of percolation clusters and with the outer boundary of Brownian motion, and is conjectured to correspond to scaling limits of several other discrete processes in two dimensions.
The present paper attempts a first systematic study of SLE. It is proved that for all $κ\ne 8$ the SLE trace is a path; for $κ\in[0,4]$ it is a simple path; for $κ\in(4,8)$ it is a self-intersecting path; and for $κ>8$ it is space-filling.
It is also shown that the Hausdorff dimension of the SLE trace is a.s. at most $1+κ/8$ and that the expected number of disks of size $\eps$ needed to cover it inside a bounded set is at least $\eps^{-(1+κ/8)+o(1)}$ for $κ\in[0,8)$ along some sequence $\eps\to 0$. Similarly, for $κ\ge 4$, the Hausdorff dimension of the outer boundary of the SLE hull is a.s. at most $1+2/κ$, and the expected number of disks of radius $\eps$ needed to cover it is at least $\eps^{-(1+2/κ)+o(1)}$ for a sequence $\eps\to 0$.
In this note, we show how to relate the Schramm-Loewner Evolution processes (SLE) to highest-weight representations of the Virasoro Algebra. The conformal restriction properties of SLE that have been recently studied in the paper arXiv:math.PR/0209343 by G. Lawler, O. Schramm and the second author play an instrumental role. In this setup, various considerations from conformal field theory can be interpreted and reformulated via SLE. This enables to make a concrete link between the two-dimensional discrete critical systems from statistical physics and conformal field theory.
An annulus SLE$_κ$ trace tends to a single point on the target circle, and the density function of the end point satisfies some differential equation. Some martingales or local martingales are found for annulus SLE$_4$, SLE$_8$ and SLE$_{8/3}$. From the local martingale for annulus SLE$_4$ we find a candidate of discrete lattice model that may have annulus SLE$_4$ as its scaling limit. The local martingale for annulus SLE$_{8/3}$ is similar to those for chordal and radial SLE$_{8/3}$. But it seems that annulus SLE$_{8/3}$ does not satisfy the restriction property.
For $κ\in(0,4]$, a family of annulus SLE$(κ;Λ)$ processes were introduced in [14] to prove the reversibility of whole-plane SLE$(κ)$. In this paper we prove that those annulus SLE$(κ;Λ)$ processes satisfy a restriction property, which is similar to that for chordal SLE$(κ)$. Using this property, we construct $n\ge 2$ curves crossing an annulus such that, when any $n-1$ curves are given, the last curve is a chordal SLE$(κ)$ trace.
The present paper is concerned with properties of multiple Schramm--Loewner evolutions (SLEs) labelled by a parameter $κ\in (0,8]$. Specifically, we consider the solution of the multiple Loewner equation driven by a time change of Dyson's Brownian motions in the non-colliding regime. Although it is often considered that several properties of the solution can be studied by means of commutation relations of SLEs and the absolute continuity, this method is available only in the case that the curves generated by commuting SLEs are separated. Beyond this restriction, it is not even obvious that the…
Various features of the two-parameter family of Schramm-Loewner evolutions SLE(κ,ρ) are studied. In particular, we derive certain restriction properties that lead to a ``strong duality'' conjecture, which is an identity in law between the outer boundary of a variant of the SLE(κ) process for κ\ge 4 and a variant of the SLE(16/κ) process.
We study the adjacency graph of bubbles---i.e., complementary connected components---of an SLE$_κ$ curve for $κ\in (4,8)$, with two such bubbles considered to be adjacent if their boundaries intersect. We show that this adjacency graph is a.s. connected for $κ\in (4,κ_0]$, where $κ_0 \approx 5.6158$ is defined explicitly. This gives a partial answer to a problem posed by Duplantier, Miller and Sheffield (2014). Our proof in fact yields a stronger connectivity result for $κ\in (4,κ_0]$, which says that there is a Markovian way of finding a path from any fixed bubble to $\infty$. We also show th…
We make use of the fact that a two-sided whole-plane Schramm-Loewner evolution (SLE$_κ$) curve $γ$ for $κ\in(0,8)$ from $\infty$ to $\infty$ through $0$ may be parametrized by its $d$-dimensional Minkowski content, where $d=1+\fracκ8$, and become a self-similar process of index $\frac 1d$ with stationary increments. We prove that such $γ$ is locally $α$-Hölder continuous for any $α<\frac 1d$. In the case $κ\in(0,4]$, we show that $γ$ is not locally $\frac 1d$-Hölder continuous. We also prove that, for any deterministic closed set $A\subset \mathbb{R}$, the Hausdorff dimension of $γ(A)$ almost …
We review some of the results that have been derived in the last years on conformal invariance, scaling limits and properties of some two-dimensional random curves. In particular, we describe the intuitive ideas that lead to the definition of the Schramm-Loewner evolutions SLE, we define these objects, study its various properties, show how to compute (probabilities, critical exponents) using SLE, relate SLE to planar Brownian motions (i.e. the determination of the critical exponents), planar self-avoiding walks, critical percolation, loop-erased random walks and uniform spanning trees.
This article pertains to the classification of pairs of simple random curves with conformal Markov property and symmetry. We give the complete classification of such curves: conformal Markov property and symmetry single out a two-parameter family of random curves---Hypergeometric SLE---denoted by hSLE$_κ(ν)$ for $κ\in (0,4]$ and $ν<κ-6$. The proof relies crucially on Dubédat's commutation relation [Dub07] and a uniqueness result proved in [MS16b]. The classification indicates that hypergeometric SLE is the only possible scaling limit of the interfaces in critical lattice models (conjectured or…
The natural paramterization or length for the Schramm-Loewner evolution (SLEκ) is the candidate for the scaling limit of the length of discrete curves for κ< 8. We improve the proof of the existence of the parametrization and use this to establish some new results. In particular, we show that the natural parametrization is independent of domain and it is Hölder continuous with respect to the capacity parametrization. We also give up-to-constants bounds for the two-point Green's function. Although we do not prove the conjecture that the natural length is given by the appropriate Minkowski conte…
Stochastic Loewner Evolutions (SLE) with a multiple sqrt(kappa)B of Brownian motion B as driving process are random planar curves (if kappa<=4) or growing compact sets generated by a curve (if kappa>4). We consider here more general Levy processes as driving processes and obtain evolutions expected to look like random trees or compact sets generated by trees, respectively. We show that when the driving force is of the form sqrt(kappa)B+theta^(1/alpha)S for a symmetric alpha-stable Levy process S, the cluster has zero or positive Lebesgue measure according to whether kappa<=4 or kappa>4. We als…
We define multiple chordal SLEs in a simply connected domain by considering a natural configurational measure on paths. We show how to construct these measures so that they are conformally covariant and satisfy certain boundary perturbation and Markov properties, as well as a cascade relation. As an example of our construction, we derive the scaling limit of Fomin's identity in the case of two paths directly; that is, we prove that the probability that an SLE(2) and a Brownian excursion do not intersect can be given in terms of the determinant of the excursion hitting matrix. Finally, we defin…
This article is meant to serve as a guide to recent developments in the study of the scaling limit of critical models. These new developments were made possible through the definition of the Stochastic Loewner Evolution (SLE) by Oded Schramm. This article opens with a discussion of Loewner's method, explaining how this method can be used to describe families of random curves. Then we define SLE and discuss some of its properties. We also explain how the connection can be made between SLE and the discrete models whose scaling limits it describes, or is believed to describe. Finally, we have inc…
Excursion reflected Brownian motion (ERBM) is a strong Markov process defined in a finitely connected domain $D \subset \mathbb{C}$ that behaves like a Brownian motion away from the boundary of $D$ and picks a point according to harmonic measure from infinity to reflect from every time it hits a boundary component. We give a construction of ERBM using its conformal invariance and develop the basic theory of its harmonic functions. One important reason for studying ERBM is the hope that it will be a useful tool in the study of SLE in multiply connected domains. To this end, we develop the basic…
We use SLE(6) paths to construct a process of continuum nonsimple loops in the plane and prove that this process coincides with the full continuum scaling limit of 2D critical site percolation on the triangular lattice -- that is, the scaling limit of the set of all interfaces between different clusters. Some properties of the loop process, including conformal invariance, are also proved. In the main body of the paper these results are proved while assuming, as argued by Schramm and Smirnov, that the percolation exploration path converges in distribution to the trace of chordal SLE(6). Then, i…
We give a simplified and complete proof of the convergence of the chordal exploration process in critical FK-Ising percolation to chordal SLE$_κ( κ-6)$ with $κ=16/3$. Our proof follows the classical excursion-construction of SLE$_κ(κ-6)$ processes in the continuum and we are thus led to introduce suitable cut-off stopping times in order to analyse the behaviour of the driving function of the discrete system when Dobrushin boundary condition collapses to a single point. Our proof is very different from [KS15, KS16] as it only relies on the convergence to the chordal SLE$_κ$ process in Dobrushin…
We study the possible scaling limits of percolation interfaces in two dimensions on the triangular lattice. When one lets the percolation parameter p(N) vary with the size N of the box that one is considering, three possibilities arise in the large-scale limit. It is known that when p(N) does not converge to 1/2 fast enough, then the scaling limits are degenerate, whereas if p(N) - 1 / 2 goes to zero quickly, the scaling limits are SLE(6) as when p=1/2. We study some properties of the (non-void) intermediate regime where the large scale behavior is neither SLE(6) nor degenerate. We prove that …
