The longest excursion of a random interacting polymer

Abstract

We consider a random $N$-step polymer under the influence of an attractive interaction with the origin and derive a limit law -- after suitable shifting and norming -- for the length of the longest excursion towards the Gumbel distribution. The embodied law of large numbers in particular implies that the longest excursion is of order $\log N$ long. The main tools are taken from extreme value theory and renewal theory.