Geometrically constrained statistical systems on regular and random lattices: From folding to meanders
Abstract
We review a number a recent advances in the study of two-dimensional statistical models with strong geometrical constraints. These include folding problems of regular and random lattices as well as the famous meander problem of enumerating the topologically inequivalent configurations of a meandering road crossing a straight river through a given number of bridges. All these problems turn out to have reformulations in terms of fully packed loop models allowing for a unified Coulomb gas description of their statistical properties. A number of exact results and physically motivated conjectures are presented in detail, including the remarkable meander configuration exponent alpha=(29+sqrt(145))/12.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0505293,
title = {Geometrically constrained statistical systems on regular and random lattices: From folding to meanders},
author = {P. Di Francesco and E. Guitter},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0505293},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
112 pages, 82 figures, harvmac, mssymb, epsf. Review article