Approach to stationarity for the KPZ fixed point with boundaries

Abstract: Current fluctuations for the one-dimensional totally asymmetric exclusion process (TASEP) connected to reservoirs of particles, and their large scale limit to the KPZ fixed point in finite volume, are studied using exact methods. Focusing on the maximal current phase for TASEP, corresponding to infinite boundary slopes for the KPZ height field, we obtain for general initial condition an exact expression for the late time correction to stationarity, involving extreme value statistics of Brownian paths. In the special cases of stationary and narrow wedge initial conditions, a combination of Bethe ansatz and numerical conjectures alternatively provide fully explicit exact expressions.