We consider the gap probability for the Pearcey and Airy processes; we set up a Riemann--Hilbert approach (different from the standard one) whereby the asymptotic analysis for large gap/large time of the Pearcey process is shown to factorize into two independent Airy processes using the Deift-Zhou steepest descent analysis. Additionally we relate the theory of Fredholm determinants of integrable kernels and the theory of isomonodromic tau function. Using the Riemann-Hilbert problem mentioned above we construct a suitable Lax pair formalism for the Pearcey gap probability and re-derive the two nonlinear PDEs recently found and additionally find a third one not reducible to those.
