The free energy of matrix models

Abstract

In this paper we study multi-matrix models whose potentials are perturbations of the quadratic potential associated with independent GUE random matrices. More precisely, we compute the free energy and the expectation of the trace of polynomials evaluated in those matrices. We prove an asymptotic expansion in the inverse of the matrix dimension to any order. Out of this result we deduce new formulas for map enumerations and the microstates free entropy. Our approach is based on the interpolation method between random matrices and free operators developed in [9, 31].