© 2001 International Press Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 5 (2001) 1207-1250 Optimal tail estimates for directed last passage site percolation with geometric random variables Jinho Baik, Percy Deift, Ken T-R McLaughlin, Peter Miller, and Xin Zhou Deparment of Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
[email protected] Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, NY 10012, USA deift @ cims. ny u. edu Department of Mathematics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
[email protected] Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
[email protected] Department of Mathematics, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
[email protected] Abstract e-print archive: http://xxx.lanl.gov/math.PR/0112162 1208 BAIK, DEIFT, MCLAUGHLIN, MILLER, AND ZHOU In this paper, we obtain optimal uniform lower tail estimates for the prob- ability distribution of the properly scaled length of the longest up/right path of the last passage site percolation model considered by Johansson in [12]. The estimates are used to prove a lower tail moderate deviation result for the model. The estimates also imply the convergence of moments, and also provide a verification of the universal scaling law relating the longitudinal and the transversal fluctuations of the model. 1 Introduction In [12], Johansson considered directed last passage site percolation on Z^_ = {(m, n) : m,n G N} with geometric random variables. More precisely, for (i,j) € Z+, let w(i,j) be independent, identically distributed geometric random variables with lP(t«(t,j) = fe) = (l-*2)(*2)*, fc = 0,l,2,---, (1.1) and 0 < t < 1.