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Finite temperature free fermions and the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation at finite time

We consider the system of $N$ one-dimensional free fermions confined by a harmonic well $V(x) = mω^2 {x^2}/{2}$ at finite inverse temperature $β= 1/T$. The average density of fermions $ρ_N(x,T)$ at position $x$ is derived. For $N \gg 1$ and $β\sim {\cal O}(1/N)$, $ρ_N(x,T)$ is given by a scaling function interpolating between a Gaussian at high temperature, for $β\ll 1/N$, and the Wigner semi-circle law at low temperature, for $β\gg N^{-1}$. In the latter regime, we unveil a scaling limit, for $β{\hbar ω}= b N^{-1/3}$, where the fluctuations close to the edge of the support, at $x \sim \pm \sqrt{2\hbar N/(mω)}$, are described by a limiting kernel $K^{\rm ff}_b(s,s')$ that depends continuously on $b$ and is a generalization of the Airy kernel, found in the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble of random matrices. Remarkably, exactly the same kernel $K^{\rm ff}_b(s,s')$ arises in the exact solution of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation in 1+1 dimensions at finite time $t$, with the correspondence $t= b^3$.