Large random planar maps and their scaling limits

Abstract

We discuss scaling limits of random planar maps chosen uniformly at random in a certain class. This leads to a universal limiting space called the Brownian map, which is viewed as a random compact metric space. The Brownian map can be obtained as a quotient of the continuous random tree called the CRT, for an equivalence relation which is defined in terms of Brownian labels assigned to the vertices of the CRT. We discuss the known properties of the Brownian map. In particular, we give a complete description of the geodesics starting from the distinguished point called the root. We also discuss applications to various properties of large random planar maps.