Fluctuations of the one-dimensional polynuclear growth model with external sources Original Research Article

The one-dimensional polynuclear growth model with external sources at edges is studied. The height fluctuation at the origin is known to be given by either the Gaussian, the GUE Tracy–Widom distribution, or certain distributions called GOE2 and image, depending on the strength of the sources. We generalize these results and show that the scaling limit of the multi-point equal time height fluctuations of the model are described by the Fredholm determinant, of which the limiting kernel is explicitly obtained. In particular, we obtain two new kernels, describing transitions between the above one-point distributions. One expresses the transition from the GOE2 to the GUE Tracy–Widom distribution or to the Gaussian; the other the transition from image to the Gaussian. The results specialized to the fluctuation at the origin are shown to be equivalent to the previously obtained ones via the Riemann–Hilbert method.