Scaling limits of critical percolation models show major differences between low and high dimensional models. The article discusses the formulation of the continuum limit for the former case. A mathematical framework is proposed for the direct description of the limiting continuum theory. The resulting structure is expected to exhibit strict conformal invariance, and facilitate the mathematical...

We consider the finite-size scaling of equilibrium droplet shapes for fluid adsorption (at bulk two-phase coexistence) on heterogeneous substrates and also in wedge geometries in which only a finite domain Λ A of the substrate is completely wet. For three-dimensional systems with short-ranged forces we use renormalization group ideas to establish that both the shape of the droplet height and th...

We offer a new example of conformal invariance (local scale invariance) far from equilibrium-the inverse cascade of surface quasigeostrophic (SQG) turbulence. We show that temperature isolines are statistically equivalent to curves that can be mapped into a one-dimensional Brownian walk (called Schramm-Loewner evolution or SLEkappa). The diffusivity is close to kappa=4, that is, isotemperature ...

The issue of local gauge invariance in the simplicial lattice formulation of gravity is examined. We exhibit explicitly, both in the weak-field expansion about flat space, and subsequently for arbitrarily triangulated background manifolds, the exact local gauge invariance of the gravitational action, which includes in general both cosmological constant and curvature-squared terms. We show that ...