Integrability and conformal data of the dimer model

The central charge of the dimer model on the square lattice is still being debated in the literature. In this paper, we provide evidence supporting the consistency of a $c=-2$ description. Using Lieb's transfer matrix and its description in terms of the Temperley–Lieb algebra ${TL}_n$ at $\beta =0$, we provide a new solution of the dimer model in terms of the model of critical dense polymers on a tilted lattice and offer an understanding of the lattice integrability of the dimer model. The dimer transfer matrix is analyzed in the scaling limit, and the result for $L_0-\frac{c}{24}$ is expressed in terms of fermions. Higher Virasoro modes are likewise constructed as limits of elements of ${TL}_n$ and are found to yield a $c=-2$ realization of the Virasoro algebra, familiar from fermionic bc ghost systems. In this realization, the dimer Fock spaces are shown to decompose, as Virasoro modules, into direct sums of Feigin–Fuchs modules, themselves exhibiting reducible yet indecomposable structures. In the scaling limit, the eigenvalues of the lattice integrals of motion are found to agree exactly with those of the $c=-2$ conformal integrals of motion. Consistent with the expression for $L_0-\frac{c}{24}$ obtained from the transfer matrix, we also construct higher Virasoro modes with c = 1 and find that the dimer Fock space is completely reducible under their action. However, the transfer matrix is found not to be a generating function for the c = 1 integrals of motion. Although this indicates that Lieb's transfer matrix description is incompatible with the c = 1 interpretation, it does not rule out the existence of an alternative, c = 1 compatible, transfer matrix description of the dimer model. (paper)