Complex Gaussian multiplicative chaos

Abstract: In this article, we study complex Gaussian multiplicative chaos. More precisely, we study the renormalization theory and the limit of the exponential of a complex log-correlated Gaussian field in all dimensions (including Gaussian Free Fields in dimension 2). Our main working assumption is that the real part and the imaginary part are independent. We also discuss applications in 2D string theory; in particular we give a rigorous mathematical definition of the so-called Tachyon fields, the conformally invariant operators in critical Liouville Quantum Gravity with a c=1 central charge, and derive the original KPZ formula for these fields.