Two-dimensional fractal geometry, critical phenomena and conformal invariance

The universal properties of critical geometrical systems in two-dimensions (2D) like the O (n) and Potts models, are described in the framework of Coulomb gas methods and conformal invariance. The conformal spectrum of geometrical critical systems obtained is made of a discrete infinite series of scaling dimensions. Specific applications involve the fractal properties of self-avoiding walks, percolation clusters, and also some non trivial critical exponents or fractal dimensions associated with subsets of the planar Brownian motion. The statistical mechanics of the same critical models on a random 2D lattice (namely in presence of a critically-fluctuating metric, in the so-called 2D quantum gravity) is also addressed, and the above critical geometrical systems are shown to be exactly solvable in this case. The new ''gravitational'' conformal spectrum so derived is found to satisfy the recent Knizhnik, Polyakov and Zamolodchikov quadratic relation which links it to the standard conformal spectrum in the plane