Shift-invariance for vertex models and polymers

Abstract

We establish a symmetry in a variety of integrable stochastic systems: Certain multi-point distributions of natural observables are unchanged under a shift of a subset of observation points. The property holds for stochastic vertex models, (1+1)d directed polymers in random media, last passage percolation, the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, and the Airy sheet. In each instance it leads to computations of previously inaccessible joint distributions. The proofs rely on a combination of the Yang-Baxter integrability of the inhomogeneous colored stochastic six-vertex model and Lagrange interpolation. We also show that a simplified (Gaussian) version of our theorems is related to the invariance in law of the local time of the Brownian bridge under the shift of the observation level.