Negative association of Busemann functions in exponential last-passage percolation

Abstract

One hallmark of exactly solvable KPZ random growth models is product-form invariant measures. In the setting of exponential last-passage percolation (LPP), this corresponds to the independence of Busemann increments along any down-right path. However, this independence breaks down when multiple asymptotic directions are considered simultaneously, owing to the fact that jointly invariant measures are not jointly product-form. This paper shows that the failure of independence is one-sided: Busemann increments across arbitrary directions are negatively associated. As an application, we derive an exponential concentration inequality for sums of Busemann increments on the diffusive scale, even when the increments are not independent. While our argument relies on a Burke property that is special to exponential weights, all other proof ingredients-including hidden LPP monotonicities and braid relations for queueing maps-hold for arbitrary weights.