arXiv subjects

Ivan K. Kostov

Publications and source records attributed to Ivan K. Kostov.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2006

Thermal flow in the gravitational O(n) model

We study the massless flow from the critical point (dilute loops) to the low-temperature phase (dense loops) of the O(n) loop gas model when the model is coupled to 2D gravity. The flow is generated by the gravitationally dressed thermal operator Φ_{1,3} coupled to the renormalized loop tension λ~ T-T_c. We find that the susceptibility as a function of the thermal coupling λand the cosmological constant μsatisfies a simple transcendental equation.

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arXiv2004

Time-dependent backgrounds of 2D string theory: Non-perturbative effects

We study the non-perturbative corrections (NPC) to the partition function of a compactified 2D string theory in a time-dependent background generated by a tachyon source. The sine-Liouville deformation of the theory is a particular case of such a background. We calculate the leading as well as the subleading NPC using the dual description of the string theory as matrix quantum mechanics. As in the minimal string theories, the NPC are classified by the double points of a complex curve. We calculate them by two different methods: by solving Toda equation and by evaluating the quasiclassical fermion wave functions. We show that the result can be expressed in terms of correlation functions of the bosonic field associated with the tachyon source and identify the leading and the subleading corrections as the contributions from the one-point (disk) and two-point (annulus) correlation functions.

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arXiv2004

Boundary Ground Ring and Disc Correlation Functions in Liouville Quantum Gravity

We construct the boundary ground ring in c < 1 open string theories with non-zero boundary cosmological constant (FZZT brane), using the Coulomb gas representation. The ring relations yield an over-determined set of functional recurrence equations for the boundary correlation functions, which involve shifts of the target space momenta of the boundary fields as well as the boundary parameters on the different segments of the boundary.

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arXiv2004

Boundary Ground Ring in 2D String Theory

The 2D quantum gravity on a disc, or the non-critical theory of open strings, is known to exhibit an integrable structure, the boundary ground ring, which determines completely the boundary correlation functions. Inspired by the recent progress in boundary Liouville theory, we extend the ground ring relations to the case of non-vanishing boundary Liouville interaction known also as FZZT brane in the context of the 2D string theory. The ring relations yield an over-determined set of functional recurrence equations for the boundary correlation functions. The ring action closes on an infinite array of equally spaced FZZT branes for which we propose a matrix model realization. In this matrix model the boundary ground ring is generated by a pair of complex matrix fields.

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arXiv2003

Boundary Liouville Theory and 2D Quantum Gravity

We study the boundary correlation functions in Liouville theory and in solvable statistical models of 2D quantum gravity. In Liouville theory we derive functional identities for all fundamental boundary structure constants, similar to the one obtained for the boundary two-point function by Fateev, Zamolodchikov and Zamolodchikov. All these functional identities can be written as difference equations with respect to one of the boundary parameters. Then we switch to the microscopic realization of 2D quantum gravity as a height model on a dynamically triangulated disc and consider the boundary correlation functions of electric, magnetic and twist operators. By cutting open the sum over surfaces along a domain wall, we derive difference equations identical to those obtained in Liouville theory. We conclude that there is a complete agreement between the predictions of Liouville theory and the discrete approach.

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arXiv2003

2D String Theory as Normal Matrix Model

We show that the $c=1$ bosonic string theory at finite temperature has two matrix-model realizations related by a kind of duality transformation. The first realization is the standard one given by the compactified matrix quantum mechanics in the inverted oscillator potential. The second realization, which we derive here, is given by the normal matrix model. Both matrix models exhibit the Toda integrable structure and are associated with two dual cycles (a compact and a non-compact one) of a complex curve with the topology of a sphere with two punctures. The equivalence of the two matrix models holds for an arbitrary tachyon perturbation and in all orders in the string coupling constant.

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arXiv2003

Boundary Correlators in 2D Quantum Gravity: Liouville versus Discrete Approach

We calculate a class of two-point boundary correlators in 2D quantum gravity using its microscopic realization as loop gas on a random surface. We find a perfect agreement with the two-point boundary correlation function in Liouville theory, obtained by V. Fateev, A. Zamolodchikov and Al. Zamolodchikov. We also give a geometrical meaning of the functional equation satisfied by this two-point function.

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arXiv2002

Integrable flows in c=1 string theory

In these notes we review the method to construct integrable deformations of the compactified c=1 bosonic string theory by primary fields (momentum or winding modes), developed recently in collaboration with S. Alexandrov and V. Kazakov. The method is based on the formulation of the string theory as a matrix model. The flows generated by either momentum or winding modes (but not both) are integrable and satisfy the Toda lattice hierarchy.

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arXiv2002

Time-dependent backgrounds of 2D string theory

We study possible backgrounds of 2D string theory using its equivalence with a system of fermions in upside-down harmonic potential. Each background corresponds to a certain profile of the Fermi sea, which can be considered as a deformation of the hyperbolic profile characterizing the linear dilaton background. Such a perturbation is generated by a set of commuting flows, which form a Toda Lattice integrable structure. The flows are associated with all possible left and right moving tachyon states, which in the compactified theory have discrete spectrum. The simplest nontrivial background describes the Sine-Liouville string theory. Our methods can be also applied to the study of 2D droplets of electrons in a strong magnetic field.

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arXiv2001

String Equation for String Theory on a Circle

We derive a constraint (string equation) which together with the Toda Lattice hierarchy determines completely the integrable structure of the compactified 2D string theory. The form of the constraint depends on a continuous parameter, the compactification radius R. We show how to use the string equation to calculate the free energy and the correlation functions in the dispersionless limit. We sketch the phase diagram and the flow structure and point out that there are two UV critical points, one of which (the sine-Liouville string theory) describes infinitely strong vortex or tachyon perturbation.

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arXiv2000

Exact Solution of the Three-color Problem on a Random Lattice

We present the exact solution of the Baxter's three-color problem on a random planar graph, using the random-matrix formulation of the problem, given by B. Eynard and C. Kristjansen. We find that the number of three-coloring of an infinite random graph is 0.9843 per vertex.

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arXiv2000

Dimensionally Reduced SYM_4 as Solvable Matrix Quantum Mechanics

We study the quantum mechanical model obtained as a dimensional reduction of N=1 super Yang-Mills theory to a periodic light-cone "time". After mapping the theory to a cohomological field theory, the partition function (with periodic boundary conditions) regularized by a massive term appears to be equal to the partition function of the twisted matrix oscillator. We show that this partition function perturbed by the operator of the holonomy around the time circle is a tau function of Toda hierarchy. We solve the model in the large N limit and study the universal properties of the solution in the scaling limit of vanishing perturbation. We find in this limit a phase transition of Gross-Witten type.

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arXiv1999

Conformal Field Theory Techniques in Random Matrix models

In these notes we explain how the CFT description of random matrix models can be used to perform actual calculations. Our basic example is the hermitian matrix model, reformulated as a conformal invariant theory of free fermions. We give an explicit operator construction of the corresponding collective field theory in terms of a bosonic field on a hyperelliptic Riemann surface, with special operators associated with the branch points. The quasiclassical expressions for the spectral kernel and the joint eigenvalue probabilities are then easily obtained as correlation functions of current, fermionic and twist operators. The result for the spectral kernel is valid both in macroscopic and microscopic scales. At the end we briefly consider generalizations in different directions.

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arXiv1998

D-particles, Matrix Integrals and KP hierachy

We study the regularized correlation functions of the light-like coordinate operators in the reduction to zero dimensions of the matrix model describing $D$-particles in four dimensions. We investigate in great detail the related matrix model originally proposed and solved in the planar limit by J. Hoppe. It also gives the solution of the problem of 3-coloring of planar graphs. We find interesting strong/weak 't Hooft coupling dependence. The partition function of the grand canonical ensemble turns out to be a tau-function of KP hierarchy. As an illustration of the method we present a new derivation of the large-N and double-scaling limits of the one-matrix model with cubic potential.

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arXiv1998

Matrix String Partition Functions

We evaluate quasi-classically the Ramond partition function of Euclidean D=10 U(N) super-Yang--Mills theory reduced to a two-dimensional torus. The result can be interpreted in terms of free strings wrapping the space-time torus, as expected from the point of view of Matrix string theory. We demonstrate that, when extrapolated to the ultraviolet limit (small area of the torus), the quasi-classical expressions reproduce exactly the recently obtained expression for the partition of the completely reduced SYM theory, including the overall numerical factor. This is an evidence that our quasi-classical calculation might be exact.

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arXiv1997

Complex Matrix Models and Statistics of Branched Coverings of 2D Surfaces

We present a complex matrix gauge model defined on an arbitrary two-dimensional orientable lattice. We rewrite the model's partition function in terms of a sum over representations of the group U(N). The model solves the general combinatorial problem of counting branched covers of orientable Riemann surfaces with any given, fixed branch point structure. We then define an appropriate continuum limit allowing the branch points to freely float over the surface. The simplest such limit reproduces two-dimensional chiral U(N) Yang-Mills theory and its string description due to Gross and Taylor.

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arXiv1996

Two-Dimensional Chiral Matrix Models and String Theories

We formulate and solve a class of two-dimensional matrix gauge models describing ensembles of non-folding surfaces covering an oriented, discretized, two-dimensional manifold. We interpret the models as string theories characterized by a set of coupling constants associated to worldsheet ramification points of various orders. Our approach is closely related to, but simpler than, the string theory describing two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory. Using recently developed character expansion methods we exactly solve the models for target space lattices of arbitrary internal connectivity and topology.

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arXiv1995

Solvable statistical models on a random lattice

We give a sequence of equivalent formulations of the $ADE$ and $\hat A\hat D\hat E$ height models defined on a random triangulated surface: random surfaces immersed in Dynkin diagrams, chains of coupled random matrices, Coulomb gases, and multicomponent Bose and Fermi systems representing soliton $τ$-functions. We also formulate a set of loop-space Feynman rules allowing to calculate easily the partition function on a random surface with arbitrary topology. The formalism allows to describe the critical phenomena on a random surface in a unified fashion and gives a new meaning to the $ADE$ classification.

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