Airy kernel determinant solutions to the KdV equation and integro-differential Painlevé equations (Q2046796)

This paper is concerned with the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) differential equation \[ u_{t}^{}+2uu_{x}^{}+\dfrac{1}{6}\,u_{xxx}^{}=0. \] The authors obtain the family of unbounded solutions of KdV equation, which can be constructed as log-derivatives of the deformed Airy kernel Fredholm determinants. They study the asymptotic behavior of these solutions and show that the constructed solutions are connected to integro-differential versions of other known equations, such as the second and the fifth Painlevé equations. As an application of the results, estimates for the tails of the narrow wedge solution of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation are improved.