Cube root fluctuations for the corner growth model associated to the exclusion process (Q2461946)

The authors are interested in the last-passage growth model on the planar integer lattice, i.e. the maximal sum of exponential random weights along up-right paths in the first quadrant. The interior weights have rate 1, and the boundary weights on the axes have rate \(1-\rho\) and \(\rho\). The variance of the last-passage time is related to the point where the maximal path exits the axes and proved to be of order \(t^{2/3}\) in a characteristic direction. By decreasing the weights on the axes in an arbitrary way, the fluctuations of the last-passage time are proved to be still of order \(t^{1/3}\). This includes the situation known as the \textit{rarefaction fan}. The proof is an adaptation of a recent work of \textit{E. Cator} and \textit{P. Groeneboom} [Ann. Probab. 34, No.~4, 1273--1295 (2006; Zbl 1101.60076)] concerning Hammersley's process and utilizes the competition interface introduced by \textit{P. A. Ferrari, J. B. Martin} and Pimentel [Phys. Rev. E., 73:031602 (2006)]. But here the arguments are entirely probabilistic.