Topology in colored tensor models via crystallization theory

Abstract: The aim of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it provides a review of the links between random tensor models, seen as quantum gravity theories, and the PL-manifolds representation by means of edge-colored graphs (crystallization theory). On the other hand, the core of the paper is to establish results about the topological and geometrical properties of the Gurau-degree (or G-degree) of the represented manifolds, in relation with the motivations coming from physics. In fact, the G-degree appears naturally in higher dimensional tensor models as the quantity driving their 1/N expansion, exactly as it happens for the genus of surfaces in the two-dimensional matrix model setting. In particular, the G-degree of PL-manifolds is proved to be finite-to-one in any dimension, while in dimension 3 and 4 a series of classification theorems are obtained for PL-manifolds represented by graphs with a fixed G-degree. All these properties have specific relevance in the tensor models framework, showing a direct fruitful interaction between tensor models and discrete geometry, via crystallization theory.