Möbius Invariant Y-systems (Cluster Structures) for Miquel Dynamics

Abstract

Miquel dynamics is a discrete time dynamics for circle patterns, which relies on Miquel’s six circle theorem. Previous work shows that the evolution of the circle centers satisfy the dSKP equation on the octahedral lattice⁠. As a consequence, Miquel dynamics is a discrete integrable system. Moreover, Miquel dynamics give rise to a real-valued cluster structure. The evolution of the cluster variables under Miquel dynamics is also called a Y-system in the discrete integrable systems community. If the Y-system is real positive-valued then the circle pattern is accompanied by an invariant dimer model, an exactly solvable model studied in statistical physics. However, while circle patterns are Möbius invariant, the circle centers and the Y-system are not Möbius invariant, which violates the so called transformation group principle. In this article we show that half the intersection points satisfy the dSKP equation as well, and we introduce two new real-valued Y-systems for Miquel dynamics that involve only the intersection points. Therefore, the new Y-systems are Möbius invariant, and thus satisfy the transformation group principle. We also show that the circle centers and intersection points combined satisfy the dSKP equation on the 4-dimensional octahedral lattice⁠. In addition, we present two more complex-valued Y-systems for Miquel dynamics, which are real-valued in and only in the case of integrable circle patterns. We also investigate the special cases of harmonic embeddings and s-embeddings, which relate to the spanning tree and Ising model, respectively.