An SLE$_2$ loop measure

Abstract

There is an essentially unique way to associate to any Riemann surface a measure on its simple loops, such that the collection of measures satisfy a strong conformal invariance property. Wendelin Werner constructed these random simple loops as boundaries of Brownian loops, and so they correspond in the zoo of statistical mechanics models to central charge $0$, or Schramm-Loewner Evolution (SLE) parameter $κ=8/3$. The goal of this paper is to construct a family of measures on simple loops on Riemann surfaces that satisfies a conformal covariance property, and that would correspond to SLE parameter $κ=2$ (central charge $-2$). On planar annuli, this loop measure was already built by Adrien Kassel and Rick Kenyon. We will give an alternative construction of this loop measure on planar annuli, investigate its conformal covariance, and finally extend this measure to general Riemann surfaces. This gives an example of a Malliavin-Kontsevich-Suhov loop measure in non-zero central charge.