Thurs. seminar

[Cond.Matt. & Stat.Mech.Section]

SEMINAR on  Disorder and strong electron correlations



Thursday, 11 March      -  11:00 a.m.





Luigi Stasi Seminar Room,  Leonardo Building - first floor







Jerome DUBAIL    ( IPhT, CEA - Saclay )





"Conformal loop models and beyond"





Abstract



Conformal field theory has been very successful in describing the low- 
energy properties of 2D statistical systems at their critical points.   
Among the most beautiful results in that field is the description of  
geometrical properties at criticality. A famous example of this is the  
exact determination of the fractal dimension of magnetisation domains  
in the Ising model.  Beyond the field theory toolbox, a mathematically  
rigorous description of such objects has been introduced in 2000: the  
Schramm-Loewner Evolution (SLE).

In my talk I will give a simple introduction to these concepts in the  
context of loop models, which are a 2D version of the spin O(n) model  
in higher dimension.  I will focus on the surface critical behaviour  
of these models and the link with the SLE approach.  After that I will  
quickly present some recent results about the domain-walls in the  
Potts model, which are no longer loops but critically branching curves.