Massive SLE$_4$ and the scaling limit of the massive harmonic explorer

Abstract: The massive harmonic explorer is a model of random discrete path on the hexagonal lattice that was proposed by Makarov and Smirnov as a massive perturbation of the harmonic explorer. They argued that the scaling limit of the massive harmonic explorer in a bounded domain is a massive version of chordal SLE$_4$, called massive SLE$_4$, which is conformally covariant and absolutely continuous with respect to chordal SLE$_4$. In this paper, we provide a full and rigorous proof of this statement. Moreover, we show that a massive SLE$_4$ curve can be coupled with a massive Gaussian free field as its level line, when the field has appropriate boundary conditions.