Electrical Networks and Symplectic Invariants

Abstract

Consider a finite planar graph with positive real edge weights and designated boundary vertices, called nodes. Such a graph is called a circular planar electrical network. A grove is a spanning forest in which every component contains at least one node. The connected components of a grove determine a partition of the nodes. We relate weighted grove counts to invariant theory for the symplectic group. To a planar electrical network $G$, we associate an $\mathrm{Sp}(2n)$-invariant tensor $Z_G$. For $\mathrm{Sp}(2)=\mathrm{SL}(2)$, we expand $Z_G$ in the Temperley--Lieb basis indexed by noncrossing matchings and relate its coefficients to the Kenyon--Wilson grove formulas. For $\mathrm{Sp}(4)$, we give reduction rules for superpositions of two groves and prove that the tensors indexed by $3$-noncrossing matchings form a basis of the space of $\mathrm{Sp}(4)$-invariant tensors. The coefficients of $Z_G$ in this basis are weighted counts of reduced double groves, up to normalization.