The conformally invariant metric on CLE$_4$ I: subsequential limits of the non-simple CLE graph metric

Abstract: We consider the conformal loop ensemble (CLE) with the parameter $κ=4$, the critical value at or below which the loops are simple and do not intersect each other or the domain boundary. We show that the loops of a CLE$<em>4$ uniquely determine a conformally invariant, local, and geodesic metric so that the metric ball growth from the domain boundary coincides with the uniform exploration of Werner and Wu. This metric was previously constructed in unpublished work of Sheffield, Watson, and Wu. Our approach differs in that we show that the metric arises as the renormalized limit of the graph metric on CLE$</em>κ$ loops as $κ\downarrow 4$. In this first paper in a series of three, we prove that the subsequential limits exist and define a non-trivial conformally invariant metric on CLE$_4$ which is local and such that the metric ball growth from the boundary is given by the uniform exploration of Werner and Wu. In subsequent work, we will show that the subsequential limit exists as a true limit.