Non-Euclidean geometry in nature

I describe the manifestation of the non-Euclidean geometry in the behavior of collective observables of some complex physical systems. Specifically, I consider the formation of equilibrium shapes of plants and statistics of sparse random graphs. For these systems I discuss the following interlinked questions: (i) the optimal embedding of plants leaves in the three-dimensional space, (ii) the spectral statistics of sparse random matrix ensembles.Comment: 52 pages, 21 figures, last section is rewritten, a reference to chaotic Hamiltonian systems is adde

Correlation functions for some conformal theories on Riemann surfaces

We discuss the geometrical connection between 2D conformal field theories, random walks on hyperbolic Riemann surfaces and knot theory. For the wide class of CFTs with monodromies being the discrete subgroups of SL(2,R), the determination of four-point correlation functions are related to construction of topological invariants for random walks on multipunctured Riemann surfacesComment: 11 pages, LaTeX, 1 Postscript figur