This monograph covers a multitude of concepts, results, and research topics originating from a classical moving-boundary problem in two dimensions (idealized Hele-Shaw flows, or classical Laplacian growth), which has strong connections to many exciting modern developments in mathematics and theoretical physics. Of particular interest are the relations between Laplacian growth and the infinite-size limit of ensembles of random matrices with complex eigenvalues; integrable hierarchies of differential equations and their spectral curves; classical and stochastic Lowner evolution and critical...

This monograph covers a multitude of concepts, results, and research topics originating from a classical moving-boundary problem in two dimensions (idealized Hele-Shaw flows, or classical Laplacian growth), which has strong connections to many exciting modern developments in mathematics and theoretical physics. Of particular interest are the relations between Laplacian growth and the infinite-size limit of ensembles of random matrices with complex eigenvalues; integrable hierarchies of differential equations and their spectral curves; classical and stochastic Lowner evolution and critical...

This book exploits the classification of a class of linear bounded operators with rank-one self-commutators in terms of their spectral parameter, known as the principal function. The resulting dictionary between two dimensional planar shapes with a degree of shade and Hilbert space operators turns out to be illuminating and beneficial for both sides. An exponential transform, essentially a Riesz potential at critical exponent, is at the heart of this novel framework; its best rational approximants unveil a new class of complex orthogonal polynomials whose asymptotic distribution of zeros...