Statistical Physics Approach to M-theory Integrals

Abstract

We explain the concepts of computational statistical physics which have proven very helpful in the study of Yang-Mills integrals, an ubiquitous new class of matrix models. Issues treated are: Absolute convergence versus Monte Carlo computability of near-singular integrals, singularity detection by Markov-chain methods, applications to asymptotic eigenvalue distributions and to numerical evaluations of multiple bosonic and supersymmetric integrals. In many cases already, it has been possible to resolve controversies between conflicting analytical results using the methods presented here.