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Christophe Garban

Publications and source records attributed to Christophe Garban.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The impact of disorder and non-convex interactions on delocalisation of height functions

We study the behaviour of four spins systems (the XY model, the Villain model, the XY height function and the integer-valued Gaussian free field) in the presence of a non-elliptic quenched disorder. In the article [DG25], it was shown that the phase transitions of the XY model (the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition in $d = 2$ and the order/disorder phase transition when $d \geq 3$) persist on the infinite cluster of a supercritical Bernoulli percolation. A first objective of this article is to extend these results to the Villain model. Our second objective is to analyse, for $d=2$, how the corresponding dual integer-valued height function models behave in the presence of a dual quenched disorder. These dual models are respectively the XY height function and the integer-valued Gaussian free field. Without disorder, these models are known to exhibit a phase transition in two dimensions called the roughening transition [FS81, Lam22b]. We show that this phase transition persists when the quenched disorder is given by enforcing $\varphi(x) = \varphi(y)$ independently with probability $\bar{p} < 1/2$ for neighboring sites $x, y$. Finally, we apply our methods to integer-valued height functions with annealed Gaussian interactions and prove the existence of a (quantified) rough phase. This includes all potentials of the form $|\nabla h|^p$ for $p \in (0, 2]$, recovering recent results of [OS25].

math.PR

One-arm exponents of the high-dimensional Ising model

We study the probability that the origin is connected to the boundary of the box of size $n$ (the one-arm probability) in several percolation models related to the Ising model. We prove that different universality classes emerge at criticality. - For the FK-Ising measure in a box of size $n$ with wired boundary conditions, we prove that this probability decays as $1/n$ in dimensions $d>4$, and as $1/n^{1+o(1)}$ when $d=4$. - For the infinite volume FK-Ising measure, we prove that this probability decays as $1/n^2$ in dimensions $d>6$, and as $1/n^{2+o(1)}$ when $d=6$. - For the sourceless double random current measure, we prove that this probability decays as $1/n^{d-2}$ in dimensions $d>4$, and as $1/n^{2+o(1)}$ when $d=4$. Additionally, for the infinite volume FK-Ising measure, we show that the one-arm probability is $1/n^{1+o(1)}$ in dimension $d=4$, and at least $1/n^{3/2}$ in dimension $d=5$. This establishes that the FK-Ising model has upper-critical dimension equal to $6$, in contrast to the Ising model, where it is known to be less or equal to $4$, thus solving a conjecture of Chayes, Coniglio, Machta, and Shtengel.

math.PR

One-arm exponents of high-dimensional percolation revisited

We consider sufficiently spread-out Bernoulli percolation in dimensions ${d>6}$. We present a short and simple proof of the up-to-constants estimate for the one-arm probability in both the full-space and half-space settings. These results were previously established by Kozma and Nachmias and by Chatterjee and Hanson, respectively. Our proof improves upon the entropic technique introduced by Dewan and Muirhead, relying on a sharp estimate on a suitably chosen correlation length recently obtained by Duminil-Copin and Panis. This approach is inspired by our companion work, where we compute the one-arm exponent for several percolation models related to the high-dimensional Ising model.

math.PR

Energy field of critical Ising model and examples of singular fields in QFT

The goal of this paper is to prove singularity of three natural fields in QFT with respect to their natural base measure. The fields we consider are the following ones: (1) The near-critical limit of the $2d$ Ising model (in the $\beta$-direction) is locally singular w.r.t the critical scaling limit of $2d$ Ising. (N.B. In the $h$-direction it is not locally singular). (2) The $2d$ Hierarchical Sine-Gordon field is singular w.r.t the $2d$ hierarchical Gaussian Free Field for all $\beta\in[\beta_{L^2}, \beta_{BKT})$. (3) The Hierarchical $\Phi^4_3$ field is singular w.r.t the $3d$ hierarchical GFF. Item (1) gives the first strong indication that the energy field of critical $2d$ Ising model does not exist as a random Schwarz distribution on the plane. Item (2) has been proved to be singular for the non-hierarchical $2d$ Sine-Gordon sufficiently far from the BKT point in [GM24] while item (3) is proved to be singular for the non-hierarchical $3d$ $\Phi^4_3$ field in [BG21, OOT21, HKN24]. We believe our way to detect a singular behaviour at all scales is very much down to earth and may be applicable in all settings where one has a good enough control on the so-called effective potentials.

math.PR

Villain action in lattice gauge theory

We prove that Villain interaction applied to lattice gauge theory can be obtained as the limit of both Wilson and Manton interactions on a larger graph which we call the {\em carpet graph.} This is the lattice gauge theory analog of a well-known property for spin $O(N)$ models where Villain type interactions are the limit of $\mathbb{S}^{N-1}$ spin systems defined on a {\em cable graph}. Perhaps surprisingly in the setting of lattice gauge theory, our proof also applies to non-Abelian lattice theory such as $SU(3)$-lattice gauge theory and its limiting Villain interaction. In the particular case of an Abelian lattice gauge theory, this allows us to extend the validity of Ginibre inequality to the case of the Villain interaction.

math.PR

Harmonic analysis of Gaussian multiplicative chaos on the circle

In this paper, we initiate the harmonic analysis of Gaussian multiplicative chaos (GMC) on the circle, i.e. the study of its Fourier coefficients. In particular, we show that almost surely GMC is a so-called Rajchman measure which means that its Fourier coefficients converge to $0$ when the frequency goes to infinity. We supplement this result with a convergence in law result for the rescaled Fourier coefficients.

math.PR

Invisibility of the integers for the discrete Gaussian chain via a Caffarelli-Silvestre extension of the discrete fractional Laplacian

The Discrete Gaussian Chain is a model of interfaces $\Psi : \mathbf{Z} \to \mathbf{Z}$ governed by the Hamiltonian $$ H(\Psi)= \sum_{i\neq j} J_\alpha(|i-j|) |\Psi_i -\Psi_j|^2 $$ with long-range coupling constants $J_\alpha(k)\asymp k^{-\alpha}$. For any $\alpha\in [2,3)$ and at high enough temperature, we prove an invariance principle for such an $\alpha$-Discrete Gaussian Chain towards a $H(\alpha)$-fractional Gaussian process where the Hurst index $H$ satisfies $H=H(\alpha)=\frac {\alpha-2} 2$. This result goes beyond a conjecture by Fr\"ohlich and Zegarlinski [FZ91] which conjectured fluctuations of order $n^{\tfrac 1 2 (\alpha-2) \wedge 1}$ for the Discrete Gaussian Chain. More surprisingly, as opposed to the case of the $2D$ Discrete Gaussian $\Psi : \mathbf{Z}^2 \to \mathbf{Z}$, we prove that the integers do not affect the {\em effective temperature} of the discrete Gaussian Chain at large scales. Such an {\em invisibility of the integers} had been predicted by Slurink and Hilhorst in the special case $\alpha_c=2$ in [SH83]. We also identify a similar invisibility of integers when a $2D$ Gaussian Free Field at high temperature is conditioned to take integer values on a dilute enough "fractal subset" of $\mathbf{Z}^2$. Our proof relies on four main ingredients: (1) A Caffareli-Silvestre extension for the discrete fractional Laplacian (which may be of independent interest) (2) A localisation of the chain in a smoother sub-domain (3) A Coulomb gas-type expansion in the spirit of Fr\"ohlich-Spencer [FS82] (4) Controlling the amount of Dirichlet Energy supported by a $1D$ band for the Green functions of $\mathbf{Z}^2$ Bessel-type random walks Finally, we also analyse the (easier) regime $\alpha\in(1,2) \cup (3,\infty)$ as well as the $2D$ Discrete Gaussian with long-range coupling constants (for any $\alpha>\alpha_c=4$).

math.PR

Phase transitions for the $XY$ model in non-uniformly elliptic and Poisson-Voronoi environments

The goal of this paper is to analyze how the celebrated phase transitions of the $XY$ model are affected by the presence of a non-elliptic quenched disorder. In dimension $d=2$, we prove that if one considers an $XY$ model on the infinite cluster of a supercritical percolation configuration, the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition still occurs despite the presence of quenched disorder. The proof works for all $p>p_c$ (site or edge). We also show that the $XY$ model defined on a planar Poisson-Voronoi graph also undergoes a BKT phase transition. When $d\geq 3$, we show in a similar fashion that the continuous symmetry breaking of the $XY$ model at low enough temperature is not affected by the presence of quenched disorder such as supercritical percolation (in $\mathbb{Z}^d$) or Poisson-Voronoi (in $\mathbb{R}^d$). Adapting either Fr\"{o}hlich-Spencer's proof of existence of a BKT phase transition or the more recent proofs of Lammers, van Engelenburg-Lis and Aizenman-Harel-Peled-Shapiro to such non-uniformly elliptic disorders appears to be non-trivial. Instead, our proofs rely on a relatively little known correlation inequality called Wells' inequality.

math.PR

Long-range models in 1D revisited

In this short note, we revisit a number of classical result{s} on long-range 1D percolation, Ising model and Potts models [FS82, NS86, ACCN88, IN88]. More precisely, we show that for Bernoulli percolation, FK percolation and Potts models, there is symmetry breaking for the $1/r^2$-interaction at large $β$, and that the phase transition is necessarily discontinuous. We also show, following the notation of [ACCN88] that $β^*(q)=1$ for all $q\geq 1$.

math.PR

Quantitative bounds on vortex fluctuations in $2d$ Coulomb gas and maximum of the integer-valued Gaussian free field

In this paper, we study the influence of the vortices on the fluctuations of $2d$ systems such as the Coulomb gas, the Villain model or the integer-valued Gaussian free field. In the case of the $2d$ Villain model, we prove that the fluctuations induced by the vortices are at least of the same order of magnitude as the ones produced by the spin-wave. We obtain the following quantitative upper-bound on the two-point correlation in $\mathbb{Z}^2$ when $β>1$ \[ \langleσ_x σ_y\rangle_β^{Villain} \leq C \, \left( \frac 1 {\|x-y\|_2}\right)^{\frac 1 {2πβ}\left ( 1+βe^{-\frac{(2π)^2}{2} β}\right )} \] The proof is entirely non-perturbative. Furthermore it provides a new and algorithmically efficient way of sampling the $2d$ Coulomb gas. For the $2d$ Coulomb gas, we obtain the following lower bound on its fluctuations at high inverse temperature \[ \mathbb{E}_β^{Coul}[\langle Δ^{-1}q, g\rangle] \geq \exp(-π^2 β+ o(β)) \langle g,(-Δ)^{-1}g \rangle \] This estimate coincides with the predictions based on a RG analysis from [JKKN77] and suggests that the Coulomb potential $Δ^{-1}q$ at inverse temperature $β$ should scale like a Gaussian free field of inverse temperature of order $\exp(π^2 β)$. Finally, we transfer the above vortex fluctuations via a duality identity to the integer-valued GFF by showing that its maximum deviates in a quantitative way from the maximum of a usual GFF. More precisely, we show that with high probability when $β>1$ \[ \max_{x\in [-n,n]^2} Ψ_n(x) \leq \sqrt{\frac{2β}π \big(1 - βe^{- \frac{(2π)^2β} {2} } \big)} \log n \,. \] where $Ψ_n$ is an integer-valued GFF in the box $[-n,n]^2$ at inverse temperature $β^{-1}$. Applications to the free-energies of the Coulomb gas, the Villain model and the integer-valued GFF are also considered.

math.PR

Continuous symmetry breaking along the Nishimori line

We prove continuous symmetry breaking in three dimensions for a special class of disordered models described by the Nishimori line. The spins take values in a group such as $\mathbb{S}^1$, $SU(n)$ or $SO(n)$. Our proof is based on a theorem about group synchronization proved by Abbe, Massoulié, Montanari, Sly and Srivastava [AMM+18]. It also relies on a gauge transformation acting jointly on the disorder and the spin configurations due to Nishimori [Nis81, GHLDB85]. The proof does not use reflection positivity. The correlation inequalities of [MMSP78] imply symmetry breaking for the classical $XY$ model without disorder.

math.PR

Domain of attraction of the fixed points of Branching Brownian motion

We give a complete characterisation of the domain of attraction of fixed points of branching Brownian motion (BBM) with critical drift. Prior to this classification, we introduce a suitable metric space of locally finite point measures on which we prove 1) that the BBM with critical drift is a well-defined Markov process and 2) that it satisfies the Feller property. Several applications of this characterisation are given.

math.PR

Superconcentration for minimal surfaces in first passage percolation and disordered Ising ferromagnets

We consider the standard first passage percolation model on $\mathbb Z^ d$ with a distribution $G$ taking two values $0<a<b$. We study the maximal flow through the cylinder $[0,n]^ {d-1}\times [0,hn]$ between its top and bottom as well as its associated minimal surface(s). We prove that the variance of the maximal flow is superconcentrated, i.e. in $O(\frac {n^{d-1}} {\log n})$, for $h\geq h_0$ (for a large enough constant $h_0=h_0(a,b)$). Equivalently, we obtain that the ground state energy of a disordered Ising ferromagnet in a cylinder $[0,n]^ {d-1}\times [0,hn]$ is superconcentrated when opposite boundary conditions are applied at the top and bottom faces and for a large enough constant $h\geq h_0$ (which depends on the law of the coupling constants). Our proof is inspired by the proof of Benjamini--Kalai--Schramm. Yet, one major difficulty in this setting is to control the influence of the edges since the averaging trick used in the proof of Benjamini--Kalai--Schramm fails for surfaces. Of independent interest, we prove that minimal surfaces (in the present discrete setting) cannot have long thin chimneys.

math.PR

Percolation for 2D classical Heisenberg model and exit sets of vector valued GFF

Our motivation in this paper is twofold. First, we study the geometry of a class of exploration sets, called exit sets, which are naturally associated with a 2D vector-valued GFF : $ϕ: Z^2 \to R^N, N\geq 1$. We prove that, somewhat surprisingly, these sets are a.s. degenerate as long as $N\geq 2$, while they are conjectured to be macroscopic and fractal when $N=1$. This analysis allows us, when $N\geq 2$, to understand the percolation properties of the level sets of $\{\|ϕ(x)\|, x\in Z^2\}$ and leads us to our second main motivation in this work: if one projects a spin $O(N+1)$ model (classical Heisenberg model is $N=2$) down to a spin $O(N)$ model, we end up with a spin $O(N)$ in a quenched disorder given by random conductances on $Z^2$. Using the exit sets of the $N$-vector-valued GFF, we obtain a local and geometric description of this random disorder in the limit $β\to \infty$. This allows us to revisit a series of celebrated works by Patrascioiu and Seiler ([PS92, PS93, PS02]) which argued against Polyakov's prediction that spin $O(N+1)$ model is massive at all temperatures when $N\geq 2$ ([Pol75]). We make part of their arguments rigorous and more importantly we provide the following counter-example: we build ergodic environments of (arbitrary) high conductances with (arbitrary) small and disconnected regions of low conductances in which, despite the predominance of high conductances, the $XY$ model remains massive. Of independent interest, we prove that at high $β$, the transverse fluctuations of a classical Heisenberg model are given by a $N=2$ vectorial GFF. This is implicit in [Pol75] but we give here the first (non-trivial) rigorous proof. Also, independently of the recent work [DF22], we show that two-point correlation functions of the spin $O(N)$ model are given in terms of certain percolation events in the cable graph for any $N\geq 1$.

math.PR

Improved spin-wave estimate for Wilson loops in $U(1)$ lattice gauge theory

In this paper, we obtain bounds on the Wilson loop expectations in 4D $U(1)$ lattice gauge theory which quantify the effect of topological defects. In the case of a Villain interaction, by extending the non-perturbative technique introduced in [GS20a], we obtain the following estimate for a large loop $γ$ at low temperatures: \[ |\langle W_γ\rangle_β| \leq \exp \left(-\frac{C_{GFF}} {2β}(1+C βe^{- 2π^2 β} )(|γ|+o(|γ|)) \right)\,. \] Our result is in the line of recent works [Cha20, Cao20, FLV20, For21] which analyze the case where the gauge group is discrete. In the present case where the gauge group is continuous and Abelian, the fluctuations of the gauge field decouple into a Gaussian part, related to the so-called {\em free electromagnetic wave} [Gro83, Dri87], and a gas of {\em topological defects}. As such, our work gives new quantitative bounds on the fluctuations of the latter which complement the works by Guth and Fröhlich-Spencer [Gut80, FS82]. Finally, we improve, also in a non-perturbative way, the correction term from $e^{-2π^2β}$ to $e^{-π^2β}$ in the case of the free-energy of the system. This provides a matching lower-bound with the prediction of Guth [Gut80] based on renormalization group techniques.

math.PR

A new proof of Liggett's theorem for non-interacting Brownian motions

In this note, we give a new proof of Liggett's theorem on the invariant measures of independent particle systems from [Lig78] in the particular case of independent drifted Brownian motions. This particular case has received a lot of attention recently due to its applications for the analysis of the local extrema of discrete Gaussian free field. The novelty of our proof is that it identifies directly the expected Poisson Point Process with exponential intensity without relying on the Choquet-Deny convolution equation $μ* P=μ$ ([ChoquetDeny60,Deny60]).

math.PR

The fixed points of Branching Brownian Motion

In this work, we characterize all the point processes $θ=\sum_{i\in \mathbb{N}} δ_{x_i}$ on $\mathbb{R}$ which are left invariant under branching Brownian motions with critical drift $-\sqrt{2}$. Our characterization holds under the only assumption that $θ(\mathbb{R}_+)<\infty$ almost surely.

math.PR

Long-range order for critical Book-Ising and Book-percolation

In this paper, we investigate the behaviour of statistical physics models on a book with pages that are isomorphic to half-planes. We show that even for models undergoing a continuous phase transition on $\mathbb Z^2$, the phase transition becomes discontinuous as soon as the number of pages is sufficiently large. In particular, we prove that the Ising model on a three pages book has a discontinuous phase transition (if one allows oneself to consider large coupling constants along the line on which pages are glued). Our work confirms predictions in theoretical physics which relied on renormalization group, conformal field theory and numerics ([Car91,ITB91,SMP10]) some of which were motivated by the analysis of the Renyi entropy of certain quantum spin systems.

math-ph