Counting colored planar maps free-probabilistically

Abstract

Our main result is an explicit operator-theoretic formula for the number of colored planar maps with a fixed set of stars each of which has a fixed set of half-edges with fixed coloration. The formula bounds the number of such colored planar maps well enough to prove convergence near the origin of generating functions arising naturally in the matrix model context. Such convergence is known but the proof of convergence proceeding by way of our main result is relatively simple. Besides Voiculescu's generalization of Wigner's semicircle law, our main technical tool is an integration identity representing the joint cumulant of several functions of a Gaussian random vector. The latter identity in the case of cumulants of order 2 reduces to one well-known as a means to prove the Poincare inequality. We derive the identity by combining the heat equation with the so-called BKAR formula from constructive quantum field theory and rigorous statistical mechanics.