Spectral Curve of Periodic Fisher Graphs

We study the spectral curves of dimer models on periodic Fisher graphs, obtained from a ferromagnetic Ising model on $\mathbb{Z}^2$. The spectral curve is defined by the zero locus of the determinant of a modified weighted adjacency matrix. We prove that either they are disjoint from the unit torus ($\mathbb{T}^2=\{(z,w):|z|=1,|w|=1\}$) or they intersect $\mathbb{T}^2$ at a single real point.Comment: 27 page

Limit shape and height fluctuations of random perfect matchings on square-hexagon lattices

We study asymptotics of perfect matchings on a large class of graphs called the contracting square-hexagon lattice, which is constructed row by row from either a row of a square grid or a row of a hexagonal lattice. We assign the graph periodic edge weights with period $1\times n$, and consider the probability measure of perfect matchings in which the probability of each configuration is proportional to the product of edge weights. We show that the partition function of perfect matchings on such a graph can be computed explicitly by a Schur function depending on the edge weights. By analyzing the asymptotics of the Schur function, we then prove the Law of Large Numbers (limit shape) and the Central Limit Theorem (convergence to the Gaussian free field) for the corresponding height functions. We also show that the distribution of certain type of dimers near the turning corner is the same as the eigenvalues of Gaussian Unitary Ensemble, and that in the scaling limit under the boundary condition that each segment of the bottom boundary grows linearly with respect the dimension of the graph, the frozen boundary is a cloud curve whose number of tangent points to the bottom boundary of the domain depends on the size of the period, as well as the number of segments along the bottom boundary

Self-avoiding walks and amenability

The connective constant $\mu(G)$ of an infinite transitive graph $G$ is the exponential growth rate of the number of self-avoiding walks from a given origin. The relationship between connective constants and amenability is explored in the current work. Various properties of connective constants depend on the existence of so-called 'graph height functions', namely: (i) whether $\mu(G)$ is a local function on certain graphs derived from $G$, (ii) the equality of $\mu(G)$ and the asymptotic growth rate of bridges, and (iii) whether there exists a terminating algorithm for approximating $\mu(G)$ to a given degree of accuracy. In the context of amenable groups, it is proved that the Cayley graphs of infinite, finitely generated, elementary amenable groups support graph height functions, which are in addition harmonic. In contrast, the Cayley graph of the Grigorchuk group, which is amenable but not elementary amenable, does not have a graph height function. In the context of non-amenable, transitive graphs, a lower bound is presented for the connective constant in terms of the spectral bottom of the graph. This is a strengthening of an earlier result of the same authors. Secondly, using a percolation inequality of Benjamini, Nachmias, and Peres, it is explained that the connective constant of a non-amenable, transitive graph with large girth is close to that of a regular tree. Examples are given of non-amenable groups without graph height functions, of which one is the Higman group.Comment: v2 differs from v1 in the inclusion of further material concerning non-amenable graphs, notably an improved lower bound for the connective constan