A Gentle Introduction to Kang-Makarov Conformal Field Theory

Abstract

The conformal field theory of Kang and Makarov is a mathematician’s take on how the physicists think about CFT and the Coulomb gas. I will try to explain the many aspects of the Kang-Makarov approach, focusing on the geometrical characterizations, the underlying potential theory, and the connection with martingale observables for SLE type processes.