Branching in log-correlated random fields

This talk will discuss how log-correlated random fields show up in diverse settings, including the study of cover times and random matrix theory. This is explained by the presence of an underlying approximate branching structure in each of the models.

I will describe the most basic model of the log-correlated class, namely Branching Random Walk (BRW), where the branching structure is explicit, and explain how to adapt ideas developed in the context of BRW to models where the branching structure is not immediately obvious.