A Pfaffian formula for monomer-dimer partition functions

Abstract

We consider the monomer-dimer partition function on arbitrary finite planar graphs and arbitrary monomer and dimer weights, with the restriction that the only non-zero monomer weights are those on the boundary. We prove a Pfaffian formula for the corresponding partition function. As a consequence of this result, multipoint boundary monomer correlation functions at close packing are shown to satisfy fermionic statistics. Our proof is based on the celebrated Kasteleyn theorem, combined with a theorem on Pfaffians proved by one of the authors, and a careful labeling and directing procedure of the vertices and edges of the graph.