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arXiv:1206.2312 · Journal of Statistical Mechanics Theory and Experiment

Logarithmic observables in critical percolation

Romain Vasseur, Jesper Lykke Jacobsen, Hubert Saleur

Published Jul 19, 2012• 58 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Although it has long been known that the proper quantum field theory description of critical percolation involves a logarithmic conformal field theory (LCFT), no direct consequence of this has been observed so far. Representing critical bond percolation as the Q → 1 limit of the Q -state Potts model, and analyzing the underlying S Q symmetry of the Potts spins, we identify a class of simple observables whose two-point functions scale logarithmically for Q → 1. The logarithm originates from the mixing of the energy operator with a logarithmic partner that we identify as the field that creates two propagating clusters. In d = 2 dimensions this agrees with general LCFT results, and in particular the universal prefactor of the logarithm can be computed exactly. We confirm its numerical value by carrying out extensive Monte Carlo simulations.

DOI
10.1088/1742-5468/2012/07/l07001

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Determining whether an additional local symmetry affects the universality class of a sta-tistical model is an important issue in the theory of critical phenomena. A basic example is provided by the RP N −1 model, in which N -component spin variables at each lattice site interact through an Hamiltonian invariant under global O(N ) rotations and local spin re-versals. The local symmetry makes the difference with the usual O(N ) model and amounts to the head-tail symmetry characteristic of liquid crystals. In three dimensions, the weak first order transition observed in numerical simulations of the ferromagnetic model is con-sistent with the mean field scenario. On the other hand, in the two-dimensional case –the one we focus on in this thesis – fluctuations are stronger and minimize the reliability of mean field predictions, as illustrated by the phase transition of the three-state Potts model, which becomes continuous on planar lattices. For the RP N −1 model, the absence of spontaneous breaking of continuous symmetry in two dimensions generically suggests that criticality is limited to zero temperature, and Monte Carlo studies for T → 0 showed a fast growth of the correlation length which made particularly hard to reach the asymp-totic limit and draw conclusions. On the other hand, the possibility of finite temperature topological transitions similar to the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) one – which should definitely occur for RP 1 ∼ O(2) – and mediated by ”disclination” defects has also been debated in numerical studies. While two-dimensional criticality has allowed for an impressive amount of exact solutions thanks to lattice integrability and conformal field theory, models with local symmetries traditionally remained outside the range of application of these methods. In this thesis, however, we show how the renormalization group fixed points of the RP N −1 model and of its complex generalization, the CP N −1 model, can be accessed in an exact way. This is achieved in the scale invariant scattering framework which, as we review in the introductory part of the thesis, implements in the basis of particle excitations the infinite-dimensional conformal symmetry characteristic of critical points in two dimensions and has provided in the last few years new results for pure and disordered systems. In the last part of the thesis, we will exploit the generality of the scale invariant scattering method to progress with another long standing problem of two-dimensional criticality, namely that of spin clusters in Potts correlated percolation. It has been known for long time that the problem can be addressed considering two coupled Potts models, but the need to consider the number of states of one of these models as a continuous variable has severely limited the analytical or numerical study of the critical points. Also here, the ability of the scattering method to enforce conformal invariance for the internal symmetry characteristic of the universality class will allow us to obtain exact equations for the critical points and to determine their solutions in the relevant limits.

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Conformal field theory (CFT) has proven to be one of the richest and deepest subjects of modern theoretical and mathematical physics research, especially as regards statistical mechanics and string theory. It has also stimulated an enormous amount of activity in mathematics, shaping and building bridges between seemingly disparate fields through the study of vertex operator algebras, a (partial) axiomatisation of a chiral CFT. One can add to this that the successes of CFT, particularly when applied to statistical lattice models, have also served as an inspiration for mathematicians to develop entirely new fields: the Schramm–Loewner evolution and Smirnov's discrete complex analysis being notable examples. When the energy operator fails to be diagonalisable on the quantum state space, the CFT is said to be logarithmic. Consequently, a logarithmic CFT is one whose quantum space of states is constructed from a collection of representations which includes reducible but indecomposable ones. This qualifier arises because of the consequence that certain correlation functions will possess logarithmic singularities, something that contrasts with the familiar case of power law singularities. While such logarithmic singularities and reducible representations were noted by Rozansky and Saleur in their study of the U (1|1) Wess–Zumino–Witten model in 1992, the link between the non-diagonalisability of the energy operator and logarithmic singularities in correlators is usually ascribed to Gurarie's 1993 article (his paper also contains the first usage of the term 'logarithmic conformal field theory'). The class of CFTs that were under control at this time was quite small. In particular, an enormous amount of work from the statistical mechanics and string theory communities had produced a fairly detailed understanding of the (so-called) rational CFTs. However, physicists from both camps were well aware that applications from many diverse fields required significantly more complicated non-rational theories. Examples include critical percolation, supersymmetric string backgrounds, disordered electronic systems, sandpile models describing avalanche processes, and so on. In each case, the non-rationality and non-unitarity of the CFT suggested that a more general theoretical framework was needed. Driven by the desire to better understand these applications, the mid-1990s saw significant theoretical advances aiming to generalise the constructs of rational CFT to a more general class. In 1994, Nahm introduced an algorithm for computing the fusion product of representations which was significantly generalised two years later by Gaberdiel and Kausch who applied it to explicitly construct (chiral) representations upon which the energy operator acts non-diagonalisably. Their work made it clear that underlying the physically relevant correlation functions are classes of reducible but indecomposable representations that can be investigated mathematically to the benefit of applications. In another direction, Flohr had meanwhile initiated the study of modular properties of the characters of logarithmic CFTs, a topic which had already evoked much mathematical interest in the rational case. Since these seminal theoretical papers appeared, the field has undergone rapid development, both theoretically and with regard to applications. Logarithmic CFTs are now known to describe non-local observables in the scaling limit of critical lattice models, for example percolation and polymers, and are an integral part of our understanding of quantum strings propagating on supermanifolds. They are also believed to arise as duals of three-dimensional chiral gravity models, fill out hidden sectors in non-rational theories with non-compact target spaces, and describe certain transitions in various incarnations of the quantum Hall effect. Other physical applications range from two-dimensional turbulence and non-equilibrium systems to aspects of the AdS/CFT correspondence and describing supersymmetric sigma models beyond the topological sector. We refer the reader to the reviews in this collection for further applications and details. More recently, our understanding of logarithmic CFT has improved dramatically thanks largely to a better understanding of the underlying mathematical structures. This includes those associated to the vertex operator algebras themselves (representations, characters, modular transformations, fusion, braiding) as well as structures associated with applications to two-dimensional statistical models (diagram algebras, eg. Temperley–Lieb; quantum groups). Not only are we getting to the point where we understand how these structures differ from standard (rational) theories, but we are starting to tackle applications both in the boundary and bulk settings. It is now clear that the logarithmic case is generic, so it is this case that one should expect to encounter in applications. We therefore feel that it is timely to review what has been accomplished in order to disseminate this improved understanding and motivate further applications. We now give a quick overview of the articles that constitute this special issue. Adamović and Milas provide a detailed summary of their rigorous results pertaining to logarithmic vertex operator (super)algebras constructed from lattices. This survey discusses the C2-cofiniteness of the (p, p') triplet models (this is the generalisation of rationality to the logarithmic setting), describes Zhu's algebra for (some of) these theories and outlines the difficulties involved in explicitly constructing the modules responsible for their logarithmic nature. Cardy gives an account of a popular approach to logarithmic theories that regards them, heuristically at least, as limits of ordinary (but non-rational) CFTs. More precisely, it seems that any given correlator may be computed as a limit of standard (non-logarithmic) correlators, any logarithmic singularities that arise do so because of a degeneration when taking the limit. He then illustrates this phenomenon in several theories describing statistical lattice models including the n → 0 limit of the O(n ) model and the Q → 1 limit of the Q-state Potts model. Creutzig and Ridout review the continuum approach to logarithmic CFT, using the percolation (boundary) CFT to detail the connection between module structure and logarithmic singularities in correlators before describing their proposed solution to the thorny issue of generalising modular data and Verlinde formulae to the logarithmic setting. They illustrate this proposal using the three best-understood examples of logarithmic CFTs: the (1, 2) models, related to symplectic fermions; the fractional level WZW model on , related to the beta gamma ghosts; and the WZW model on GL(1|1). The analysis in each case requires that the spectrum be continuous; C2-cofinite models are only recovered as orbifolds. Flohr and Koehn consider the characters of the irreducible modules in the spectrum of a CFT and discuss why these only span a proper subspace of the space of torus vacuum amplitudes in the logarithmic case. This is illustrated explicitly for the (1, 2) triplet model and conclusions are drawn for the action of the modular group. They then note that the irreducible characters of this model also admit fermionic sum forms which seem to fit well into Nahmrsquo;s well-known conjecture for rational theories. Quasi-particle interpretations are also introduced, leading to the conclusion that logarithmic C2-cofinite theories are not so terribly different to rational theories, at least in some respects. Fuchs, Schweigert and Stigner address the problem of constructing local logarithmic CFTs starting from the chiral theory. They first review the construction of the local theory in the non-logarithmic setting from an angle that will then generalise to logarithmic theories. In particular, they observe that the bulk space can be understood as a certain coend. The authors then show how to carry out the construction of the bulk space in the category of modules over a factorisable ribbon Hopf algebra, which shares many properties with the braided categories arising from logarithmic chiral theories. The authors proceed to construct the analogue of all-genus correlators in their setting and establish invariance under the mapping class group, i.e. locality of the correlators. Gainutdinov, Jacobsen, Read, Saleur and Vasseur review their approach based on the assumption that certain classes of logarithmic CFTs admit lattice regularisations with local degrees of freedom, for example quantum spin chains (with local interactions). They therefore study the finite-dimensional algebras generated by the hamiltonian densities (typically the Temperley–Lieb algebras and their extensions) that describe the dynamics of these lattice models. The authors then argue that the lattice algebras exhibit, in finite size, mathematical properties that are in correspondence with those of their continuum limits, allowing one to predict continuum structures directly from the lattice. Moreover, the lattice models considered admit quantum group symmetries that play a central role in the algebraic analysis (representation structure and fusion). Grumiller, Riedler, Rosseel and Zojer review the role that logarithmic CFTs may play in certain versions of the AdS/CFT correspondence, particularly for what is known as topologically massive gravity (TMG). This has been a very active subject over the last five years and the article takes great care to disentangle the contributions from the many groups that have participated. They begin with some general remarks on logarithmic behaviour, much in the spirit of Cardyrsquo;s review, before detailing the distinction between the chiral (no logs) and logarithmic proposals for critical TMG. The latter is then subjected to various consistency checks before discussing evidence for logarithmic behaviour in more general classes of grav

Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical•Nov 20, 2013•44 citations
Although it has long been known that the proper quantum field theory description of critical percolation involves a logarithmic conformal field theory (LCFT), no direct consequence of this has been observed so far. Representing critical bond percolation as the Q → 1 limit of the Q -state Potts model, and analyzing the underlying S Q symmetry of the Potts spins, we identify a class of simple observables whose two-point functions scale logarithmically for Q → 1. The logarithm originates from the mixing of the energy operator with a logarithmic partner that we identify as the field that creates two propagating clusters. In d = 2 dimensions this agrees with general LCFT results, and in particular the universal prefactor of the logarithm can be computed exactly. We confirm its numerical value by carrying out extensive Monte Carlo simulations.
In bulk percolation, we exhibit operators that insert N clusters with any given symmetry under the symmetric group S_{N}. At the critical threshold, this leads to predictions that certain combinations of two-point correlation functions depend logarithmically on distance, without the usual power law. The behavior under rotations of certain amplitudes of correlators is also determined exactly. All these results hold in any dimension, 2≤d≤6. Moreover, in d=2 the critical exponents and universal logarithmic prefactors are obtained exactly. We test these predictions against extensive simulations of critical bond percolation in d=2 and 3, for all correlators up to N=4 (d=2) and N=3 (d=3), finding excellent agreement. In d=3 we further obtain precise numerical estimates for critical exponents and logarithmic prefactors.
Determining whether an additional local symmetry affects the universality class of a sta-tistical model is an important issue in the theory of critical phenomena. A basic example is provided by the RP N −1 model, in which N -component spin variables at each lattice site interact through an Hamiltonian invariant under global O(N ) rotations and local spin re-versals. The local symmetry makes the difference with the usual O(N ) model and amounts to the head-tail symmetry characteristic of liquid crystals. In three dimensions, the weak first order transition observed in numerical simulations of the ferromagnetic model is con-sistent with the mean field scenario. On the other hand, in the two-dimensional case –the one we focus on in this thesis – fluctuations are stronger and minimize the reliability of mean field predictions, as illustrated by the phase transition of the three-state Potts model, which becomes continuous on planar lattices. For the RP N −1 model, the absence of spontaneous breaking of continuous symmetry in two dimensions generically suggests that criticality is limited to zero temperature, and Monte Carlo studies for T → 0 showed a fast growth of the correlation length which made particularly hard to reach the asymp-totic limit and draw conclusions. On the other hand, the possibility of finite temperature topological transitions similar to the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) one – which should definitely occur for RP 1 ∼ O(2) – and mediated by ”disclination” defects has also been debated in numerical studies. While two-dimensional criticality has allowed for an impressive amount of exact solutions thanks to lattice integrability and conformal field theory, models with local symmetries traditionally remained outside the range of application of these methods. In this thesis, however, we show how the renormalization group fixed points of the RP N −1 model and of its complex generalization, the CP N −1 model, can be accessed in an exact way. This is achieved in the scale invariant scattering framework which, as we review in the introductory part of the thesis, implements in the basis of particle excitations the infinite-dimensional conformal symmetry characteristic of critical points in two dimensions and has provided in the last few years new results for pure and disordered systems. In the last part of the thesis, we will exploit the generality of the scale invariant scattering method to progress with another long standing problem of two-dimensional criticality, namely that of spin clusters in Potts correlated percolation. It has been known for long time that the problem can be addressed considering two coupled Potts models, but the need to consider the number of states of one of these models as a continuous variable has severely limited the analytical or numerical study of the critical points. Also here, the ability of the scattering method to enforce conformal invariance for the internal symmetry characteristic of the universality class will allow us to obtain exact equations for the critical points and to determine their solutions in the relevant limits.
We study N-cluster correlation functions in four- and five-dimensional (4D and 5D) bond percolation by extensive Monte Carlo simulation. We reformulate the transfer Monte Carlo algorithm for percolation [Phys. Rev. E 72, 016126 (2005)] using the disjoint-set data structure, and simulate a cylindrical geometry Ld−1 × ∞, with the linear size up to L = 512 for 4D and 128 for 5D. We determine with a high precision all possible N-cluster exponents, for N = 2 and 3, and the universal amplitude for a logarithmic correlation function. From the symmetric correlator with N=2, we obtain the correlation-length critical exponent as 1/ν=1.4610(12) for 4D and 1/ν=1.737(2) for 5D, significantly improving over the existing results. Estimates for the other exponents and the universal logarithmic amplitude have not been reported before to our knowledge. Our work demonstrates the validity of logarithmic conformal field theory and adds to the growing knowledge for high-dimensional percolation.
Abstract We investigate the operator content of the Q -state Potts model in arbitrary dimension, using the representation theory of the symmetric group. In particular we construct all possible tensors acting on N spins, corresponding to given symmetries under S Q and S N , in terms of representations involving any Young diagram. These operators transform non-trivially under the group of spatial rotations, with a definite conformal spin. The two-point correlation functions are then computed, and their physical interpretation is given in terms of Fortuin–Kasteleyn clusters propagating between two neighbourhoods of each N spins. In two dimensions, we obtain analytically the critical exponent corresponding to each operator. In the simplest and physically most relevant cases, we confirm the values of the critical exponent and the conformal spin by numerical measurements, using both Monte Carlo simulations and transfer matrix diagonalisations. Our classification partially provides the structure of Jordan cells of the dilatation operator in arbitrary dimensions, which in turn gives rise to logarithmic correlation functions.
Abstract We have considered clusters of like spins in the Q -Potts model, the spin Potts clusters (S clusters). Using Monte Carlo simulations, we studied these clusters on a square lattice with periodic boundary conditions for values of Q ∈ [1, 4]. We continue the work initiated by Delfino et al (2013 J. Stat. Mech. P11011) by measuring the universal finite size corrections of the two-point connectivity. The numerical data are perfectly compatible with the conformal field theory (CFT) prediction, thus supporting the existence of a consistent CFT, still unknown, describing the connectivity Potts spin clusters. We provided in particular new insights on the energy field of such theory. For Q = 2, we found a good agreement with the prediction that the Ising spin clusters behave as the Fortuin–Kasteleyn ones at the tri-critical point of the dilute one-Potts model. We show that the structure constants are likely to be given by the imaginary Liouville structure constants, consistently with the results by Delfino et al (2013 J. Stat. Mech. P11011); Ang and Sun (2021 arXiv:2107.01788). For Q ≠ 2 instead, the structure constants we measure do not correspond to any known bootstrap solutions. The validity of our analysis is backed up by the measures of the spin Potts cluster wrapping probability for Q = 3. We evaluate the main critical exponents and the correction to the scaling. A new exact and compact expression for the torus one-point of the Q -Potts energy field is also given.
Conformal field theory (CFT) has proven to be one of the richest and deepest subjects of modern theoretical and mathematical physics research, especially as regards statistical mechanics and string theory. It has also stimulated an enormous amount of activity in mathematics, shaping and building bridges between seemingly disparate fields through the study of vertex operator algebras, a (partial) axiomatisation of a chiral CFT. One can add to this that the successes of CFT, particularly when applied to statistical lattice models, have also served as an inspiration for mathematicians to develop entirely new fields: the Schramm–Loewner evolution and Smirnov's discrete complex analysis being notable examples. When the energy operator fails to be diagonalisable on the quantum state space, the CFT is said to be logarithmic. Consequently, a logarithmic CFT is one whose quantum space of states is constructed from a collection of representations which includes reducible but indecomposable ones. This qualifier arises because of the consequence that certain correlation functions will possess logarithmic singularities, something that contrasts with the familiar case of power law singularities. While such logarithmic singularities and reducible representations were noted by Rozansky and Saleur in their study of the U (1|1) Wess–Zumino–Witten model in 1992, the link between the non-diagonalisability of the energy operator and logarithmic singularities in correlators is usually ascribed to Gurarie's 1993 article (his paper also contains the first usage of the term 'logarithmic conformal field theory'). The class of CFTs that were under control at this time was quite small. In particular, an enormous amount of work from the statistical mechanics and string theory communities had produced a fairly detailed understanding of the (so-called) rational CFTs. However, physicists from both camps were well aware that applications from many diverse fields required significantly more complicated non-rational theories. Examples include critical percolation, supersymmetric string backgrounds, disordered electronic systems, sandpile models describing avalanche processes, and so on. In each case, the non-rationality and non-unitarity of the CFT suggested that a more general theoretical framework was needed. Driven by the desire to better understand these applications, the mid-1990s saw significant theoretical advances aiming to generalise the constructs of rational CFT to a more general class. In 1994, Nahm introduced an algorithm for computing the fusion product of representations which was significantly generalised two years later by Gaberdiel and Kausch who applied it to explicitly construct (chiral) representations upon which the energy operator acts non-diagonalisably. Their work made it clear that underlying the physically relevant correlation functions are classes of reducible but indecomposable representations that can be investigated mathematically to the benefit of applications. In another direction, Flohr had meanwhile initiated the study of modular properties of the characters of logarithmic CFTs, a topic which had already evoked much mathematical interest in the rational case. Since these seminal theoretical papers appeared, the field has undergone rapid development, both theoretically and with regard to applications. Logarithmic CFTs are now known to describe non-local observables in the scaling limit of critical lattice models, for example percolation and polymers, and are an integral part of our understanding of quantum strings propagating on supermanifolds. They are also believed to arise as duals of three-dimensional chiral gravity models, fill out hidden sectors in non-rational theories with non-compact target spaces, and describe certain transitions in various incarnations of the quantum Hall effect. Other physical applications range from two-dimensional turbulence and non-equilibrium systems to aspects of the AdS/CFT correspondence and describing supersymmetric sigma models beyond the topological sector. We refer the reader to the reviews in this collection for further applications and details. More recently, our understanding of logarithmic CFT has improved dramatically thanks largely to a better understanding of the underlying mathematical structures. This includes those associated to the vertex operator algebras themselves (representations, characters, modular transformations, fusion, braiding) as well as structures associated with applications to two-dimensional statistical models (diagram algebras, eg. Temperley–Lieb; quantum groups). Not only are we getting to the point where we understand how these structures differ from standard (rational) theories, but we are starting to tackle applications both in the boundary and bulk settings. It is now clear that the logarithmic case is generic, so it is this case that one should expect to encounter in applications. We therefore feel that it is timely to review what has been accomplished in order to disseminate this improved understanding and motivate further applications. We now give a quick overview of the articles that constitute this special issue. Adamović and Milas provide a detailed summary of their rigorous results pertaining to logarithmic vertex operator (super)algebras constructed from lattices. This survey discusses the C2-cofiniteness of the (p, p') triplet models (this is the generalisation of rationality to the logarithmic setting), describes Zhu's algebra for (some of) these theories and outlines the difficulties involved in explicitly constructing the modules responsible for their logarithmic nature. Cardy gives an account of a popular approach to logarithmic theories that regards them, heuristically at least, as limits of ordinary (but non-rational) CFTs. More precisely, it seems that any given correlator may be computed as a limit of standard (non-logarithmic) correlators, any logarithmic singularities that arise do so because of a degeneration when taking the limit. He then illustrates this phenomenon in several theories describing statistical lattice models including the n → 0 limit of the O(n ) model and the Q → 1 limit of the Q-state Potts model. Creutzig and Ridout review the continuum approach to logarithmic CFT, using the percolation (boundary) CFT to detail the connection between module structure and logarithmic singularities in correlators before describing their proposed solution to the thorny issue of generalising modular data and Verlinde formulae to the logarithmic setting. They illustrate this proposal using the three best-understood examples of logarithmic CFTs: the (1, 2) models, related to symplectic fermions; the fractional level WZW model on , related to the beta gamma ghosts; and the WZW model on GL(1|1). The analysis in each case requires that the spectrum be continuous; C2-cofinite models are only recovered as orbifolds. Flohr and Koehn consider the characters of the irreducible modules in the spectrum of a CFT and discuss why these only span a proper subspace of the space of torus vacuum amplitudes in the logarithmic case. This is illustrated explicitly for the (1, 2) triplet model and conclusions are drawn for the action of the modular group. They then note that the irreducible characters of this model also admit fermionic sum forms which seem to fit well into Nahmrsquo;s well-known conjecture for rational theories. Quasi-particle interpretations are also introduced, leading to the conclusion that logarithmic C2-cofinite theories are not so terribly different to rational theories, at least in some respects. Fuchs, Schweigert and Stigner address the problem of constructing local logarithmic CFTs starting from the chiral theory. They first review the construction of the local theory in the non-logarithmic setting from an angle that will then generalise to logarithmic theories. In particular, they observe that the bulk space can be understood as a certain coend. The authors then show how to carry out the construction of the bulk space in the category of modules over a factorisable ribbon Hopf algebra, which shares many properties with the braided categories arising from logarithmic chiral theories. The authors proceed to construct the analogue of all-genus correlators in their setting and establish invariance under the mapping class group, i.e. locality of the correlators. Gainutdinov, Jacobsen, Read, Saleur and Vasseur review their approach based on the assumption that certain classes of logarithmic CFTs admit lattice regularisations with local degrees of freedom, for example quantum spin chains (with local interactions). They therefore study the finite-dimensional algebras generated by the hamiltonian densities (typically the Temperley–Lieb algebras and their extensions) that describe the dynamics of these lattice models. The authors then argue that the lattice algebras exhibit, in finite size, mathematical properties that are in correspondence with those of their continuum limits, allowing one to predict continuum structures directly from the lattice. Moreover, the lattice models considered admit quantum group symmetries that play a central role in the algebraic analysis (representation structure and fusion). Grumiller, Riedler, Rosseel and Zojer review the role that logarithmic CFTs may play in certain versions of the AdS/CFT correspondence, particularly for what is known as topologically massive gravity (TMG). This has been a very active subject over the last five years and the article takes great care to disentangle the contributions from the many groups that have participated. They begin with some general remarks on logarithmic behaviour, much in the spirit of Cardyrsquo;s review, before detailing the distinction between the chiral (no logs) and logarithmic proposals for critical TMG. The latter is then subjected to various consistency checks before discussing evidence for logarithmic behaviour in more general classes of grav