Enumeration of maps
This article discusses the relationship between random matrices and maps, i.e. graphs drawn on surfaces, with particular emphasis on the one-matrix model and how it can be used to solve a map enumeration problem. It first provides an overview of maps and related objects, recalling the basic definitions related to graphs and defining maps as graphs embedded into surfaces before considering a coding of maps by pairs of permutations. It then examines the connection between matrix integrals and maps, focusing on the Hermitian one-matrix model with a polynomial potential and how the formal expansion of its free energy around a Gaussian point (quadratic potential) can be represented by diagrams identifiable with maps. The article also illustrates how the solution of the map enumeration problem can be deduced by means of random matrix theory (RMT). Finally, it explains how the matrix model result can be translated into a bijective proof.