The scaling limit of the volume of loop O(n) quadrangulations

We study the volume of rigid loop-$O(n)$ quadrangulations with a boundary of length $2p$ in the critical non-generic regime. We prove that, as the half-perimeter $p$ goes to infinity, the volume scales in distribution to an explicit random variable. This limiting random variable is described in terms of the multiplicative cascades of Chen, Curien and Maillard arXiv:1702.06916, or alternatively (in the dilute case) as the law of the area of a unit-boundary $\gamma$-quantum disc, as determined by Ang and Gwynne arXiv:1903.09120, for suitable $\gamma$. Our arguments go through a classification of the map into several regions, where we rule out the contribution of bad regions to be left with a tractable portion of the map. One key observable for this classification is a Markov chain which explores the nested loops around a size-biased vertex pick in the map, making explicit the spinal structure of the discrete multiplicative cascade.Comment: 45 pages, 6 figures, comments welcome

Multiplicative chaos of the Brownian loop soup

We construct a measure on the thick points of a Brownian loop soup in a bounded domain D of the plane with given intensity $\theta>0$, which is formally obtained by exponentiating the square root of its occupation field. The measure is constructed via a regularisation procedure, in which loops are killed at a fix rate, allowing us to make use of the Brownian multiplicative chaos measures previously considered in [BBK94, AHS20, Jeg20a], or via a discrete loop soup approximation. At the critical intensity $\theta = 1/2$, it is shown that this measure coincides with the hyperbolic cosine of the Gaussian free field, which is closely related to Liouville measure. This allows us to draw several conclusions which elucidate connections between Brownian multiplicative chaos, Gaussian free field and Liouville measure. For instance, it is shown that Liouville-typical points are of infinite loop multiplicity, with the relative contribution of each loop to the overall thickness of the point being described by the Poisson--Dirichlet distribution with parameter $\theta = 1/2$. Conversely, the Brownian chaos associated to each loop describes its microscopic contribution to Liouville measure. Along the way, our proof reveals a surprising exact integrability of the multiplicative chaos associated to a killed Brownian loop soup. We also obtain some estimates on the discrete and continuous loop soups which may be of independent interest.Comment: 107 pages, 3 figures; to appear in Proceedings of the London Mathematical Societ