# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The triviality of simple random surface models on the lattice, due to the dominance of branched polymers , and the non-scaling of the string tension in analogous Euclidean invariant models based on dynamical triangulations  made it imperative to study models with an action depending on the extrinsic curvature of surfaces. For a review of work in this area up to 1997, see .

One of the models with extrinsic curvature dependent action is the so-called gonihedric random surface model introduced in  and further studied in . This model is unstable in the simplest cases . However, there is a lattice discretization of the model  which is not plagued by stability problems and is more amenable to analytical study, see -. Another lattice model with similar properties was introduced and studied in .

In  a simplified version of the three-dimensional gonihedric lattice model was studied and the two largest eigenvalues of the transfer matrix were determined. In this paper we finish the calculation of the spectrum of the transfer matrix for the model and find all the eigenfunctions explicitly.

## 2 Transfer matrix for loops

Let $`T_3`$ denote a sublattice of $`𝐙^3`$ of size $`M\times M\times N`$ with periodic boundary conditions. We shall think of the third coordinate direction where the lattice has extension $`N`$ as the ‘time’ direction. The configuration space of the system we wish to study is a collection of subsets of the plaquettes in $`T_3`$, denoted $``$, which we refer to as singular surfaces or simply as surfaces. A collection of plaquettes $`M`$ belongs to $``$ if and only if any link in a plaquette in $`M`$ belongs to an even number of plaquettes in $`M`$. This means that the surfaces in $``$ do not overlap themselves but they can intersect themselves at right angles and they are closed. Note that the surfaces need not be connected. It is not hard to see that the conguration space $``$ is identical to the configuration space of the three-dimensional Ising model on the periodic lattice $`T_3`$. The surfaces are in one to one correspondence with phase boundaries.

We say that a link $`\mathrm{}`$ in a surface $`M`$ is an edge if $`\mathrm{}`$ is contained in exactly two plaquettes that meet at a right angle. We denote the collection of all edges in $`M`$ by $`(M)`$. The action $`S(M)`$ of the surface $`M`$ is defined as the total number of edges in $`M`$

$$S(M)=\mathrm{\#}(M).$$
(1)   
Note that no action is associated with those links where the surfaces crosses itself. The partition function is given by

$$Z(\beta )=\underset{M}{}e^{\beta S(M)}.$$
(2)   
We define an intermediate plane in $`𝐑^3`$ to be a plane that lies parallel to but in between planes where one of the coordinates takes an integer value. If we slice a surface $`M`$ (regarded as a subset of $`𝐑^3`$) by an intermediate plane we obtain a collection of links which we shall call generalized loops or simply loops. The collection of all possible loops that can arise in this way will be denoted $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$. A collection of links $`P`$ in an intermediate plane belongs to $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ exactly when each vertex in $`P`$ belongs to an even number of links in $`P`$. We note that the loops $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ coincide with the phase boundaries that arise in the two-dimensional Ising model. It will not come as a surprise that this close connection to the Ising model will make the present model exactly soluble in a very strong sense.

For $`P\mathrm{\Pi }`$ we let $`|P|`$ denote the number of links in $`P`$. Note that if $`P_1,P_2\mathrm{\Pi }`$, then the symmetric difference

$$(P_1P_2)(P_1P_2)P_1\mathrm{}P_2\mathrm{\Pi }$$
(3)   
is again a loop in $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$. It is easy to check that

$$|P_1\mathrm{}P_2|=|P_1|+|P_2|2|P_1P_2|$$
(4)   
and $`d(P_1,P_2)=|P_1\mathrm{}P_2|`$ is a metric on $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$.

Let $`k(P)`$ denote the number of corners of $`P`$, i.e. the number of vertices of order 2 whose adjacent links are at right angles. Let us denote by $``$ the space of real-valued functions on $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$. Let $`K_\beta `$ be the operator on $``$ whose matrix (kernel) is given by 

$$K_\beta (P_1,P_2)=\mathrm{exp}\left(\beta (k(P_1)+k(P_2)+2|P_1\mathrm{}P_2|)\right).$$
(5)   
With this notation the partition function of the model can be expressed as

$$Z_N(\beta )=\mathrm{Tr}K_\beta ^N$$
(6)   
by slicing surfaces in intermediate planes orthogonal to the time direction. This partition function can be evaluated if we ignore the interesection term $`|P_1P_2|`$ in the exponent of $`K_\beta `$ or if we replace $`k(P_1)+k(P_2)`$ by $`k(P_1\mathrm{}P_2)`$ . In this approximation the model becomes a stack of noninteracting two-dimensional models. The critical beahaviour of the model is identical to that of the two-dimensional Ising model and the free energy can be computed exactly by standard methods .

Here we will make an approximation different from the one of . We drop the curvature terms in the action and study the simplified transfer matrix

$$K_\beta (P_1,P_2)=\mathrm{exp}\left(2\beta (|P_1\mathrm{}P_2|M^2)\right),$$
(7)   
where we have inserted a normalization factor $`M^2`$ in the exponent for later convenience. Dropping the curvature term is the same as neglecting the action associated with edges in the time-direction. We note the mathematical analogy of the transfer matrix (7) with the transition function $`\mathrm{exp}(\beta |xy|)`$, $`x,y𝐑^d`$, for random walk in $`𝐑^d`$. This makes it reasonable to regard $`K_\beta `$ as describing the diffusion of loops.

With abuse of notation we denote the new transfer matrix (7) by the same symbol as the old one (5). This should not cause any confusion since we stick to the notation of Eq. (7) in the sequel.

## 3 Eigenvalues of the transfer matrix

In this section we solve the eigenvalue problem

$$\underset{Q\mathrm{\Pi }}{}K_\beta (P,Q)\psi _i(Q)=\mathrm{\Lambda }_i(\beta )\psi _i(P),$$
(8)   
$`\psi _i`$. We prove that only the eigenvalues depend on $`\beta `$, not the eigenfunctions. The eigenvalues can all be expressed in terms of the partition function, the internal energy and the spin correlation functions of the two-dimensional Ising model. The eigenfunctions are explicit functions on $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ which can be normalized to take only the values $`1`$ and $`1`$.

Note first that

$`{\displaystyle \underset{Q}{}}K_\beta (P,Q)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{Q}{}}e^{2\beta (|Q|M^2)}`$ (9)   
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0(\beta ),`$   
where we have in the first step shifted the summation variable from $`Q`$ to $`P\mathrm{}Q`$ (permissible since the mapping $`PP\mathrm{}Q`$ is bijective) and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0(\beta )`$ is the partition function of a two-dimensional Ising model on a periodic $`M\times M`$ lattice. This lattice will be denoted $`T_2`$. The loops $`Q`$ are the phase boundaries of the Ising model and the Ising spin variables sit on the lattice dual to $`T_2`$.

It follows from Eq. (9) that the constant function is an eigenfunction of $`K_\beta `$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0(\beta )`$ is the corresponding eigenvalue. Since all matrix elements of $`K_\beta `$ are positive and all entries in the eigenvector corresponding to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ have the same sign, it follows from the Perron–Frobenius theorem that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ is simple and it is the largest eigenvalue of $`K_\beta `$. We conclude  that the free energy per site in the present model is the same as the free energy per site in the two-dimensional Ising model. In particular, the two models have the same critical point and the same specific heat. However, the correlations are different, and we proceed to the calculation of the next eigenvalue of $`K_\beta `$.

Let us introduce the notation

$$P|Q2M^22|P\mathrm{}Q|,$$
(10)   
so $`K_\beta (P,Q)=\mathrm{exp}\left(\beta P|Q\right)`$. We find it convenient to think of $`P|Q`$ as the ‘inner product’ between the loops $`P`$ and $`Q`$ even though the set of loops is of course not a linear space. We shall refer to $`P|Q`$ as the invariant product on $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$.

If $`P`$ is a loop we let $`\overline{P}`$ denote its complement, i.e. the loop made up of exactly those links in $`T_2`$ that $`P`$ does not contain. We let $`0`$ denote the empty loop and $`U`$ the loop that contains all links in the lattice. Then $`\overline{0}=U`$ and $`\overline{P}=P\mathrm{}U`$. The invariant product is clearly symmetric in its two arguments and it has the following properties:

$`P|P`$ $`=`$ $`2M^2`$ (11)   
$`P|0`$ $`=`$ $`2M^22|P|`$ (12)   
$`P|\overline{Q}`$ $`=`$ $`P|Q.`$ (13)   
One can easily construct a finite dimensional inner product space which contains all loops in a natural fashion such that the inner product of loops coincides with the invariant product and the loops lie on a sphere of radius $`\sqrt{2}M`$.

The invariant product is invariant under a nonabelian group $`𝒢`$ of motions in loop-space generated by

* the translations of loops

$$T_a:PP+a,$$
(14)   
$`aT_2`$,
* ‘generalized antipodal maps’

$$A_Q:PP\mathrm{}Q,$$
(15)   
$`Q\mathrm{\Pi }`$,
* reflections and rotations in $`T_2`$.

Invariance means that $`gP|gQ=P|Q`$ for any $`g𝒢`$. As explained above we can view the set of loops as a sphere and we are free to regard the empty loop as the north-pole and the complete loop $`U`$ at the south-pole. Loops increase in size as one moves from north to south. The mapping $`P\overline{P}`$ is in this picture the usual antipodal map and the mappings $`A_Q`$ all have the property $`A_Q^2=I`$ where $`I`$ is the identity map.

The group $`𝒢`$ acts on the functions in $``$ in a natural way:

$$g\psi (P)=\psi (g^1P).$$
(16)   
Let $`O_n`$ denote the linear operator on $``$ with matrix elements

$$O_n(P,Q)=P|Q^n.$$
(17)   
Then $`O_n`$ is invariant under the action of $`𝒢`$ on $``$, i.e.

$$gO_ng^1=O_n$$
(18)   
and the operators $`O_n`$ commute with each other. Since they are symmetric it follows that they have common eigenvectors and the same applies of course to the transfer matrix

$$K_\beta =\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\beta ^n}{n!}O_n.$$
(19)   
This proves that the eigenvectors of $`K_\beta `$ are independent of $`\beta `$.

In view of the invariance of the transfer matrix under $`𝒢`$ it is natural to look for eigenvectors which depend on $`P`$ only via the invariant product. Let us define

$$\psi _Q(P)=P|Q.$$
(20)   
We claim that

$$K_\beta \psi _Q=\mathrm{\Lambda }_1(\beta )\psi _Q$$
(21)   
for any $`Q\mathrm{\Pi }`$, where

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_1(\beta )=\frac{1}{2M^2}\underset{P}{}e^{\beta P|0}P|0,$$
(22)   
so the eigenvalue ratio $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\mathrm{\Lambda }_0^1`$ is minus the internal energy per link of the Ising model on $`T_2`$ .

In order to prove Eqs. (21) and (22) it is convenient to introduce a function $`\eta _{\mathrm{}}`$ on $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$, where $`\mathrm{}`$ is a link in the lattice $`T_2`$, defined as

$$\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 1\text{if}lP,& \\ \hfill 1\text{if}lP.& \end{array}$$
(23)   
Note that

$$P|Q=\underset{\mathrm{}}{}\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P\mathrm{}Q),$$
(24)   
where the sum runs over all links in the lattice $`T_2`$. Consider the function

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q,l}:P\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P\mathrm{}Q)$$
(25)   
on $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$. If $`\mathrm{}Q`$ then $`\mathrm{}P\mathrm{}Q`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{}P`$. Similarly, if $`\mathrm{}Q`$ then $`\mathrm{}P\mathrm{}Q`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{}P`$. We conclude that

$$\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P\mathrm{}Q)=\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P)\eta _{\mathrm{}}(Q).$$
(26)   
It follows that

$`{\displaystyle \underset{P}{}}e^{\beta 0|P}\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P\mathrm{}Q)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{P}{}}e^{\beta 0|P}\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P)\eta _{\mathrm{}}(Q)`$ (27)   
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2M^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{P}{}}e^{\beta 0|P}0|P\eta _{\mathrm{}}(Q).`$   
The last equality is obtained by observing that the sum

$$\underset{P}{}e^{\beta 0|P}\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P)$$
(28)   
is independent of $`\mathrm{}`$ due to the translational and rotational invariance of the invariant product and using Eq. (24). This proves Eqs. (21) and (22) since it suffices to verify

$$\underset{P}{}K_\beta (P^{},P)P|Q=\mathrm{\Lambda }_1P^{}|Q$$
(29)   
for $`P^{}=0`$ due to the invariance of $`K_\beta `$ under $`𝒢`$. In fact we have shown that the functions $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q,\mathrm{}}`$ are all eigenfunctions of $`K_\beta `$ with the eigenvalue $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$.

We now use the elementary functions $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q,\mathrm{}}`$ to construct the higher eigenfunctions of $`K_\beta `$. Let $`\mathrm{}_1`$ and $`\mathrm{}_2`$ be two distinct links. Define

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_1Q_2,\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2}(P)=\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_1,\mathrm{}_1}(P)\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_2,\mathrm{}_2}(P).$$
(30)   
Then, by Eq. (26),

$$\left(K_\beta \mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_1Q_2,\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2}\right)(0)=\mathrm{\Lambda }_2(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2)\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_1Q_2,\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2}(0),$$
(31)   
i.e. $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_1Q_2,\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2}`$ is an eigenfunction of $`K_\beta `$ with eigenvalue

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_2(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2)=\underset{P}{}e^{\beta 0|P}\eta _\mathrm{}_1(P)\eta _\mathrm{}_2(P).$$
(32)   
Note that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_2(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2)`$ depends on the links $`\mathrm{}_1`$ and $`\mathrm{}_2`$ but only on their relative orientation and the distance between them. Of course the eigenvalue also depends on $`\beta `$ but we suppress this from our notation.

Similarly, if the links $`\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_n`$ are all distinct, then

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_1\mathrm{}Q_n,\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_n}(P)=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_i,\mathrm{}_i}(P)$$
(33)   
is an eigenfunction of $`K_\beta `$ with the eigenvalue

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_n(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_n)=\underset{P}{}e^{\beta 0|P}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\eta _\mathrm{}_i(P).$$
(34)   
The eigenvalue is symmetric under permutations of the $`\mathrm{}_i`$’s and simultaneous lattice rotations or translations of the links.

If $`\mathrm{}`$ is a link in the lattice $`T_2`$ let $`\sigma _{\mathrm{}}^1`$ and $`\sigma _{\mathrm{}}^2`$ be the two Ising spin variables on the dual sites adjacent to the link $`\mathrm{}`$. Then $`\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P)=\sigma _{\mathrm{}}^1(P)\sigma _{\mathrm{}}^2(P)`$ where $`\sigma _{\mathrm{}}^i(P)`$ is the value taken by $`\sigma _{\mathrm{}}^i`$ in the spin configuration corresponding to the loop $`P`$. The expectation value for an Ising model on $`T_2`$ is given by

$$()=\mathrm{\Lambda }_0^1\underset{P}{}e^{\beta P|0}()$$
(35)   
so

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_n(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_n)=\mathrm{\Lambda }_0\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\sigma _\mathrm{}_i^1\sigma _\mathrm{}_i^2.$$
(36)   
The correlation inequalities

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\sigma _\mathrm{}_i^1\sigma _\mathrm{}_i^2\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}\sigma _\mathrm{}_i^1\sigma _\mathrm{}_i^2\underset{i=k+1}{\overset{n}{}}\sigma _\mathrm{}_i^1\sigma _\mathrm{}_i^2$$
(37)   
now imply

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_n(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_n)\mathrm{\Lambda }_0\mathrm{\Lambda }_k(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_k)\mathrm{\Lambda }_{nk}(\mathrm{}_{k+1},\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_n).$$
(38)   
We expect that

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_n(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_n)<\mathrm{\Lambda }_1,$$
(39)   
for any $`n>1`$ but do not have a general proof of this inequality. It can be checked in special cases using the explicit form of the two spin correlation function  and the cluster property of correlations.

## 4 Multiplicities

As remarked above, the largest eigenvalue $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ is simple by the Perron–Frobenius theorem. Let us consider the first nontrivial eigenvalue $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ with eigenfunctions $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q,\mathrm{}}`$. Since $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q,\mathrm{}}`$ is a multiple of $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{0,\mathrm{}}`$ by the constant $`\eta _{\mathrm{}}(Q)`$ it suffices to consider the functions $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{0,\mathrm{}}=\eta _{\mathrm{}}`$. We claim that these functions are linearly independent so the multiplicity of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ is at least $`2M^2`$.

Suppose there are constants $`c_{\mathrm{}}`$ such that

$$\underset{\mathrm{}}{}c_{\mathrm{}}\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P)=0$$
(40)   
for any $`P\mathrm{\Pi }`$. We adopt the convention that sums on $`\mathrm{}`$ run over all links in $`T_2`$ unless otherwise specified. Then

$$\underset{\mathrm{}P}{}c_{\mathrm{}}+\underset{\mathrm{}P}{}c_{\mathrm{}}=0.$$
(41)   
By taking $`P=0`$ we also obtain

$$\underset{\mathrm{}}{}c_{\mathrm{}}=0.$$
(42)   
It follows that

$$\underset{\mathrm{}P}{}c_{\mathrm{}}=0$$
(43)   
for any $`P\mathrm{\Pi }`$. Let now $`x`$ and $`y`$ be two different lattice points in $`T_2`$ and suppose $`P`$ is made up of two simple nonintersecting curves $`\gamma _1`$ and $`\gamma _2`$ from $`x`$ to $`y`$. Then clearly

$$\underset{\mathrm{}\gamma _1}{}c_{\mathrm{}}=\underset{\mathrm{}\gamma _2}{}c_{\mathrm{}}.$$
(44)   
Let $`\gamma _3`$ be one more simple curve from $`x`$ to $`y`$ which also avoids $`\gamma _1`$ and $`\gamma _2`$. Then we can join $`\gamma _3`$ with either $`\gamma _1`$ or $`\gamma _2`$ to make a closed curve (i.e. a loop) in $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$. We conclude that

$$\underset{\mathrm{}\gamma _1}{}c_{\mathrm{}}=\underset{\mathrm{}\gamma _3}{}c_{\mathrm{}}=\underset{\mathrm{}\gamma _2}{}c_{\mathrm{}}$$
(45)   
which implies that

$$\underset{\mathrm{}\gamma _i}{}c_{\mathrm{}}=0$$
(46)   
for $`i=1,2,3`$. Now take $`x`$ and $`y`$ to be nearest neighbours and $`\gamma _1`$ the curve that joins them by one link $`\mathrm{}_1`$. It follows that $`c_\mathrm{}_1=0`$ and hence $`c_{\mathrm{}}=0`$ for all $`\mathrm{}`$ since $`x`$ and $`y`$ are arbitrary.

We could have obtained the above result more easily by noting that the functions $`\eta _{\mathrm{}}`$ are mutually orthogonal in the natural inner product on $``$ which we denote by $`(,)`$. This follows from the fact that $`\eta _\mathrm{}_1\eta _\mathrm{}_2`$ with $`\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2`$ is an eigenfunction of $`K_\beta `$ with an eigenvalue $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_2(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2)\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ so $`\eta _\mathrm{}_1\eta _\mathrm{}_2`$ is orthogonal to the constant function, i.e.

$$(1,\eta _\mathrm{}_1\eta _\mathrm{}_2)=\underset{P}{}\eta _\mathrm{}_1(P)\eta _\mathrm{}_2(P)=0.$$
(47)   
Hence,

$$(\eta _\mathrm{}_1,\eta _\mathrm{}_2)=\delta _{\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}^{M^2}$$
(48)   
since the total number of loops in $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is equal to $`2^{M^2}`$. This can also be seen by a direct calculation.

If the inequality (39) is valid then the multiplicity of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ is exactly $`2M^2`$. This follows from the fact that the functions $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_1\mathrm{}Q_n,\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_n}`$ span $``$. We now prove this spanning property.

Let $`\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}_3,\mathrm{}_4`$ be four different links which contain the same vertex. We shall call such a collection of links a star. In this case

$$\eta _\mathrm{}_1(P)\eta _\mathrm{}_2(P)\eta _\mathrm{}_3(P)\eta _\mathrm{}_4(P)=1$$
(49)   
for any loop $`P`$ since $`P`$ contains $`0`$, $`2`$ or $`4`$ of the links $`\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_4`$. If $`\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}_3,\mathrm{}_4`$ are a star and $`n4`$ it follows that

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_1\mathrm{}Q_n,\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_n}=\pm \mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_5\mathrm{}Q_n,\mathrm{}_5\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_n}.$$
(50)   
Let $`=\{\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_n\}`$ be a collection of links in $`T_2`$ and define

$$E_{}(P)=\underset{\mathrm{}}{}\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P).$$
(51)   
Clearly $`E_{}=\pm \mathrm{\Phi }_{Q_1\mathrm{}Q_n,\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_n}`$ so in order to prove the spanning property it suffices to identify $`2^{M^2}`$ mutually orthogonal functions of the form $`E_{}`$. We adopt the convention $`E_{\mathrm{}}=1`$.

If $``$ and $`^{}`$ are two collections of links we say that they are equivalent if the symmetric difference $`\mathrm{}^{}`$ is a star or the symmetric difference of two or more stars. This defines an equivalence relation on the set of all collections of links. If $``$ is a collection of links let $`[]`$ denote the equivalence class of $``$. It is easy to see that the total number of elements in each equivalence class is $`2^{M^2}`$ and the number of different equivalence classes is also $`2^{M^2}`$ since the total number of collections of links from $`T_2`$ is $`4^{M^2}`$. If we choose one $`_i`$ from each equivalence class $`[_i]`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},2^{M^2}`$, then

$$(E__i,E__j)=\underset{P}{}\underset{\mathrm{}_{ij}}{}\eta _{\mathrm{}}(P),$$
(52)   
where $`_{ij}`$ is a maximal subset of $`_i\mathrm{}_j`$ which contains no star. Hence, for $`ij`$,

$$(E__i,E__j)=(1,E_{_{ij}})=0$$
(53)   
since $`_{ij}`$ is nonempty for $`ij`$. This proves that $`\{E__i\}`$ is a family of mutually orthogonal functions.

## 5 Discussion

Using the results derived in the previous section it is quite easy to calculate correlation function, i.e. functions of the form

$$G_\beta ^{(N)}(P,Q)=\underset{M=PQ}{}e^{\beta S_1(M)},$$
(54)   
where the loops $`P`$ and $`Q`$ lie in two intermediate constant time planes separated by $`N`$ lattice spacings. In Eq. (54) we sum over all surfaces whose intersection with the two intermediate planes are $`P`$ and $`Q`$ and $`S_1(M)`$ is a modified action functional, counting only edges that are orthogonal to the time direction. We have

$$G_\beta ^{(N)}(P,Q)=(\delta _P,K_\beta ^N\delta _Q),$$
(55)   
where $`\delta _P`$ and $`\delta _Q`$ are delta functions in $``$. Up to normalization we can interpret $`G_\beta ^{(N)}(P,Q)`$ as the probability of having the loop $`P`$ at time $`N`$ given that we have $`Q`$ at time $`0`$. An easy calculation gives

$$G_\beta ^{(N)}(P,Q)=2^{M^2}\underset{i=1}{\overset{2^{M^2}}{}}E__i(P\mathrm{}Q)\mathrm{\Lambda }__i^N,$$
(56)   
where the sum runs over the orthogonal family of functions constructed in the last section and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }__i`$ is the eigenvalue of $`K_\beta `$ corresponding to $`E__i`$.

Unfortunately it is not clear how to extend the analysis of the present paper to include the curvature terms in the action of the full model. The original transfer matrix (5) is not invariant under the group $`𝒢`$, only translations and rotations remain symmetries. The constant function is not an eigenfunction any more. The only result that survives is the fact that the largest eigenvalue is in this case also simple by the Perron–Frobenius theorem.

However, we have managed to solve exactly a three dimensional lattice model that describes the diffusion of loops. As a surface model it is not isotropic but can be viewed as a stack of two-dimensional Ising systems with an intereaction that is sufficiently simple for us to solve the model exactly.

Acknowledgement. T. J. is indebted to NRCPS “Demokritos” and the CERN Theory Division for hospitality.