We study the statistical properties of one-dimensional directed polymers in a short-range random potential by mapping the replicated problem to a many body quantum boson system with attractive interactions. We find the full set of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the many-body system and perform the summation over the entire spectrum of excited states. The analytic continuation of the obtained exact expression for the replica partition function from integer to non-integer replica parameter N

more »

... rns out to be ambiguous. Performing the analytic continuation simply by assuming that the parameter N can take arbitrary complex values, and going to the thermodynamic limit of the original directed polymer problem, we obtain the explicit universal expression for the probability distribution function of free energy fluctuations.