No Arabic abstract
In this paper, we consider four integrable models of directed polymers for which the free energy is known to exhibit KPZ fluctuations. A common framework for the analysis of these models was introduced in our recent work on the OConnell-Yor polymer. We derive estimates for the central moments of the partition function, of any order, on the near-optimal scale $N^{1/3+epsilon}$, using an iterative method. Among the innovations exploiting the invariant structure, we develop formulas for correlations between functions of the free energy and the boundary weights that replace the Gaussian integration by parts appearing in the analysis of the OConnell-Yor case.
We discuss variational formulas for the limits of certain models of motion in a random medium: namely, the limiting time constant for last-passage percolation and the limiting free energy for directed polymers. The results are valid for models in arbitrary dimension, steps of the admissible paths can be general, the environment process is ergodic under shifts, and the potential accumulated along a path can depend on the environment and the next step of the path. The variational formulas come in two types: one minimizes over gradient-like cocycles, and another one maximizes over invariant measures on the space of environments and paths. Minimizing cocycles can be obtained from Busemann functions when these can be proved to exist. The results are illustrated through 1+1 dimensional exactly solvable examples, periodic examples, and polymers in weak disorder.
We study a continuum model of directed polymer in random environment. The law of the polymer is defined as the Brownian motion conditioned to survive among space-time Poissonian disasters. This model is well-studied in the positive temperature regime. However, at zero-temperature, even the existence of the free energy has not been proved. In this article, we prove that the free energy exists and is continuous at zero-temperature.
We show that the endpoint large deviation rate function for a continuous-time directed polymer agrees with the rate function of the underlying random walk near the origin in the whole weak disorder phase.
We present results about large deviations and laws of large numbers for various polymer related quantities. In a completely general setting and strictly positive temperature, we present results about large deviations for directed polymers in random environment. We prove quenched large deviations (and compute the rate functions explicitly) for the exit point of the polymer chain and the polymer chain itself. We also prove existence of the upper tail large deviation rate function for the logarithm of the partition function. In the case where the environment weights have certain log-gamma distributions the computations are tractable and allow us to compute the rate function explicitly. At zero temperature, the polymer model is now called a last passage model. With a particular choice of random weights, the last passage model has an equivalent representation as a particle system called Totally Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process (TASEP). We prove a hydrodynamic limit for the macroscopic particle density and current for TASEP with spatially inhomogeneous jump rates given by a speed function that may admit discontinuities. The limiting density profiles are described with a variational formula. This formula enables us to compute explicit density profiles even though we have no information about the invariant distributions of the process. In the case of a two-phase flux for which a suitable p.d.e. theory has been developed we also observe that the limit profiles are entropy solutions of the corresponding scalar conservation law with a discontinuous speed function.
We consider the discrete directed polymer model with i.i.d. environment and we study the fluctuations of the tail $n^{(d-2)/4}(W_infty - W_n)$ of the normalized partition function. It was proven by Comets and Liu, that for sufficiently high temperature, the fluctuations converge in distribution towards the product of the limiting partition function and an independent Gaussian random variable. We extend the result to the whole $L^2$-region, which is predicted to be the maximal high-temperature region where the Gaussian fluctuations should occur under the considered scaling. To do so, we manage to avoid the heavy 4th-moment computation and instead rely on the local limit theorem for polymers and homogenization.