The Yang-Lee Edge Singularity and Related Problems

Abstract: The Yang-Lee edge singularity is a prototypical example of the application of renormalization group ideas to critical behavior, and one to which Michael Fisher made several important contributions. Moreover it has connections to several other problems such as the statistics of branched polymers, and its scaling limit in two dimensions provides a simple example of integrable field theory. This article aims to give a pedagogical introduction to these matters, with a few new ideas thrown in.