Central Limit Theorem for the Edwards Model

The Edwards model in one dimension is a transformed path measure for standard Brownian motion discouraging self-intersections. We prove a central limit theorem for the endpoint of the path, extending a law of large numbers proved by Westwater. The scaled variance is characterized in terms of the largest eigenvalue of a one-parameter family of differential operators, introduced and analyzed by van der Hofstad and den Hollander. Interestingly, the scaled variance turns out to be independent of the strength of self-repellence and to be strictly smaller than one (the value for free Brownian motion).