Integrable probability: From representation theory to Macdonald processes

Abstract

These are lecture notes for a mini-course given at the Cornell Probability Summer School in July 2013. Topics include lozenge tilings of polygons and their representation theoretic interpretation, the (q, t)-deformation of those leading to the Macdonald processes, nearest neighbor dynamics on Macdonald processes, their limit to semi-discrete Brownian polymers, and large time asymptotic analysis of polymer's partition function.