Localization length of the $1+1$ continuum directed random polymer

Abstract: In this paper, we study the localization length of the $1+1$ continuum directed polymer, defined as the distance between the endpoints of two paths sampled independently from the quenched polymer measure. We show that the localization length converges in distribution in the thermodynamic limit, and derive an explicit density formula of the limiting distribution. As a consequence, we prove the $\tfrac32$-power law decay of the density, confirming the physics prediction of Hwa-Fisher \cite{fisher}. Our proof uses the recent result of Das-Zhu \cite{daszhu}.