Scaling limits of branching Loewner evolutions and the Dyson superprocess

Vivian Olsiewski Healey and Govind Menon

Vol. 338 (2025), No. 1, 87–137

DOI: 10.2140/pjm.2025.338.87

Abstract

This work introduces a construction of conformal processes that combines the theory of branching processes with chordal Loewner evolution. The main novelty lies in the choice of driving measure for the Loewner evolution: given a finite genealogical tree $\mathcal{𝒯}$, we choose a driving measure for the Loewner evolution that is supported on a system of particles that evolves by Dyson Brownian motion at inverse temperature $\beta \in (0,\infty ]$ between birth and death events.

When $\beta =\infty$, the driving measure degenerates to a system of particles that evolves through Coulombic repulsion between branching events. In this limit, the following graph embedding theorem is established: When $\mathcal{𝒯}$ is equipped with a prescribed set of angles, ${\{{𝜃}_v\in (0,\pi ∕2)\}}_{v\in \mathcal{𝒯}}$ the hull of the Loewner evolution is an embedding of $\mathcal{𝒯}$ into the upper half-plane with trivalent edges that meet at angles $(2{𝜃}_v,2\pi -4{𝜃}_v,2{𝜃}_v)$ at the image of each vertex $v$.

We also study the scaling limit when $\beta \in (0,\infty ]$ is fixed and $\mathcal{𝒯}$ is a binary Galton–Watson process that converges to a continuous state branching process. We treat both the unconditioned case (when the Galton–Watson process converges to the Feller diffusion) and the conditioned case (when the Galton–Watson tree converges to the continuum random tree). In each case, we characterize the scaling limit of the driving measure as a superprocess. In the unconditioned case, the scaling limit is the free probability analog of the Dawson–Watanabe superprocess that we term the Dyson superprocess.

Keywords

Schramm–Loewner evolution, continuum random tree, Dyson superprocess

Mathematical Subject Classification

Primary: 30C35, 60G57, 60J80, 81T40, 82B27

Milestones

Received: 3 April 2025

Revised: 10 June 2025

Accepted: 11 June 2025

Published: 8 August 2025