Soft matrix models and Chern-Simons partition functions

Abstract

We study the properties of matrix models with soft confining potentials. Their precise mathematical characterization is that their weight function is not determined by its moments. We mainly rely on simple considerations based on orthogonal polynomials and the moment problem. In addition, some of these models are equivalent, by a simple mapping, to matrix models that appear in Chern-Simons theory. The models can be solved with q deformed orthogonal polynomials (Stieltjes-Wigert polynomials), and the deformation parameter turns out to be the usual $q$ parameter in Chern-Simons theory. In this way, we give a matrix model computation of the Chern-Simons partition function on $S^{3}$ and show that there are infinitely many matrix models with this partition function.