This is a survey of Harold Widom's work in random matrices. We start with his pioneering papers on the sine-kernel determinant, continue with his and Craig Tracy's groundbreaking results concerning the distribution functions of random matrix theory, touch on the remarkable universality of the Tracy-Widom distributions in mathematics and physics, and close with Tracy and Widom's remarkable work on the asymmetric simple exclusion process.
We prove a special case of a conjecture in asymptotic analysis by Harold Widom. More precisely, we establish the leading and next-to-leading term of a semi-classical expansion of the trace of the square of certain integral operators on the Hilbert space $L^2(\R^d)$. As already observed by Gioev and Klich, this implies that the bi-partite entanglement entropy of the free Fermi gas in its ground state grows at least as fast as the surface area of the spatially bounded part times a logarithmic enhancement.
We show that the fluctuations of the largest eigenvalue of any generalized Wigner matrix $H$ converge to the Tracy-Widom laws at a rate nearly $O(N^{-1/3})$, as the matrix dimension $N$ tends to infinity. We allow the variances of the entries of $H$ to have distinct values but of comparable sizes such that $\sum_{i} \mathbb{E}|h_{ij}|^2=1$. Our result improves the previous rate $O(N^{-2/9})$ by Bourgade [8] and the proof relies on the first long-time Green function comparison theorem near the edges without the second moment matching restriction.
We study Fredholm determinants of the Painlevé II and Painlevé XXXIV kernels. In certain critical unitary random matrix ensembles, these determinants describe special gap probabilities of eigenvalues. We obtain Tracy-Widom formulas for the Fredholm determinants, which are explicitly given in terms of integrals involving a family of distinguished solutions to the coupled Painlevé II system in dimension four. Moreover, the large gap asymptotics for these Fredholm determinants are derived, where the constant terms are given explicitly in terms of the Riemann zeta-function.
We show that the fluctuations of the largest eigenvalue of a real symmetric or complex Hermitian Wigner matrix of size $N$ converge to the Tracy--Widom laws at a rate $O(N^{-1/3+ω})$, as $N$ tends to infinity. For Wigner matrices this improves the previous rate $O(N^{-2/9+ω})$ obtained by Bourgade [5] for generalized Wigner matrices. Our result follows from a Green function comparison theorem, originally introduced by Erdős, Yau and Yin [19] to prove edge universality, on a finer spectral parameter scale with improved error estimates. The proof relies on the continuous Green function flow indu…
Two approaches (TW and ASvM) to derivation of integrable differential equations for random matrix probabilities are compared. Both methods are rewritten in such a form that simple and explicit relations between all TW dependent variables and $τ$-functions of ASvM are found, for the example of finite size Gaussian matrices. Orthogonal function systems and Toda lattice are seen as the core structure of both approaches and their relationship.
The Tracy-Widom distribution that has been much studied in recent years can be thought of as an extreme value distribution. We discuss interpolation between the classical extreme value distribution $\exp(-\exp(-x))$, the Gumbel distribution and the Tracy-Widom distribution. There is a family of determinantal processes whose edge behaviour interpolates between a Poisson process with density $\exp(-x)$ and the Airy kernel point process. This process can be obtained as a scaling limit of a grand canonical version of a random matrix model introduced by Moshe, Neuberger and Shapiro. We also conside…
We consider spectral properties and the edge universality of sparse random matrices, the class of random matrices that includes the adjacency matrices of the Erdos-Renyi graph model $G(N,p)$. We prove a local law for the eigenvalue density up to the spectral edges. Under a suitable condition on the sparsity, we also prove that the rescaled extremal eigenvalues exhibit GOE Tracy-Widom fluctuations if a deterministic shift of the spectral edge due to the sparsity is included. For the adjacency matrix of the Erdos-Renyi graph this establishes the Tracy-Widom fluctuations of the second largest eig…
In this paper we consider an asymptotic question in the theory of the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble of random matrices. In the bulk scaling limit, the probability that there are no eigenvalues in the interval (0,2s) is given by P_s=det(I-K_s), where K_s is the trace-class operator with kernel K_s(x,y)={sin(x-y)}/{π(x-y)} acting on L^2(0,2s). We are interested particularly in the behavior of P_s as s tends to infinity...
Using loop equations, we compute the large deviation function of the maximum eigenvalue to the right of the spectrum in the Gaussian beta matrix ensembles, to all orders in 1/N. We then give a physical derivation of the all order asymptotic expansion of the right tail Tracy-Widom beta laws, for all positive beta, by studying the double scaling limit.
Consider the random matrix obtained from the adjacency matrix of a random d-regular graph by multiplying every entry by a random sign. The largest eigenvalue converges, after proper scaling, to the Tracy--Widom distribution.
In this paper, we first briefly review some recent results on the distribution of the maximal eigenvalue of a $(N\times N)$ random matrix drawn from Gaussian ensembles. Next we focus on the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble (GUE) and by suitably adapting a method of orthogonal polynomials developed by Gross and Matytsin in the context of Yang-Mills theory in two dimensions, we provide a rather simple derivation of the Tracy-Widom law for GUE. Our derivation is based on the elementary asymptotic scaling analysis of a pair of coupled nonlinear recursion relations. As an added bonus, this method also all…
We analyze the left-tail asymptotics of deformed Tracy-Widom distribution functions describing the fluctuations of the largest eigenvalue in invariant random matrix ensembles after removing each soft edge eigenvalue independently with probability $1-γ\in[0,1]$. As $γ$ varies, a transition from Tracy-Widom statistics ($γ=1$) to classical Weibull statistics ($γ=0$) was observed in the physics literature by Bohigas, de Carvalho, and Pato \cite{BohigasCP:2009}. We provide a description of this transition by rigorously computing the leading-order left-tail asymptotics of the thinned GOE, GUE and GS…
We study Fredholm determinants related to a family of kernels which describe the edge eigenvalue behavior in unitary random matrix models with critical edge points. The kernels are natural higher order analogues of the Airy kernel and are built out of functions associated with the Painlevé I hierarchy. The Fredholm determinants related to those kernels are higher order generalizations of the Tracy-Widom distribution. We give an explicit expression for the determinants in terms of a distinguished smooth solution to the Painlevé II hierarchy. In addition we compute large gap asymptotics for the …
We establish the relation between two objects: an integrable system related to Painleve II equation, and the symplectic invariants of a certain plane curve Σ_{TW} describing the average eigenvalue density of a random hermitian matrix spectrum near a hard edge (a bound for its maximal eigenvalue). This explains directly how the Tracy-Widow law F_{GUE}, governing the distribution of the maximal eigenvalue in hermitian random matrices, can also be recovered from symplectic invariants.
We present an analytic expression of the nonperturbative free energy of a double-well supersymmetric matrix model in its double scaling limit, which corresponds to two-dimensional type IIA superstring theory on a nontrivial Ramond-Ramond background. To this end we draw upon the wisdom of random matrix theory developed by Tracy and Widom, which expresses the largest eigenvalue distribution of unitary ensembles in terms of a Painleve II transcendent. Regularity of the result at any value of the string coupling constant shows that the third-order phase transition between a supersymmetry-preservin…
We study the distribution of the largest eigenvalue in the "Pfaffian" classical ensembles of random matrix theory, namely in the Gaussian orthogonal (GOE) and Gaussian symplectic (GSE) ensembles, using semi-classical skew-orthogonal polynomials, in analogue to the approach of Nadal and Majumdar (NM) for the Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE). Generalizing the techniques of Adler, Forrester, Nagao and van Moerbeke, and using "overlapping Pfaffian" identities due to Knuth, we explicitly construct these semi-classical skew-orthogonal polynomials in terms of the semi-classical orthogonal polynomials …
We prove that the largest eigenvalues of the beta ensembles of random matrix theory converge in distribution to the low-lying eigenvalues of the random Schroedinger operator -d^2/dx^2 + x + (2/beta^{1/2}) b_x' restricted to the positive half-line, where b_x' is white noise. In doing so we extend the definition of the Tracy-Widom(beta) distributions to all beta>0, and also analyze their tails. Last, in a parallel development, we provide a second characterization of these laws in terms of a one-dimensional diffusion. The proofs rely on the associated tridiagonal matrix models and a universality …
Recently Johansson and Johnstone proved that the distribution of the (properly rescaled) largest principal component of the complex (real) Wishart matrix $ X^* \* X (X^t \*X) $ converges to the Tracy-Widom law as $ n, p $ (the dimensions of $ X $) tend to $ \infty $ in some ratio $ n/p \to γ>0. $ We extend these results in two directions. First of all, we prove that the joint distribution of the first, second, third, etc. eigenvalues of a Wishart matrix converges (after a proper rescaling) to the Tracy-Widom distribution. Second of all, we explain how the combinatorial machinery developed for …
We study the distribution of the largest eigenvalue in formal Hermitian one-matrix models at multicriticality, where the spectral density acquires an extra number of k-1 zeros at the edge. The distributions are directly expressed through the norms of orthogonal polynomials on a semi-infinite interval, as an alternative to using Fredholm determinants. They satisfy non-linear recurrence relations which we show form a Lax pair, making contact to the string literature in the early 1990's. The technique of pseudo-differential operators allows us to give compact expressions for the logarithm of the …
We present a random matrix interpretation of the distribution functions which have appeared in the study of the one-dimensional polynuclear growth (PNG) model with external sources. It is shown that the distribution, GOE$^2$, which is defined as the square of the GOE Tracy-Widom distribution, can be obtained as the scaled largest eigenvalue distribution of a special case of a random matrix model with a deterministic source, which have been studied in a different context previously. Compared to the original interpretation of the GOE$^2$ as ``the square of GOE'', ours has an advantage that it ca…
We study the universality of the local eigenvalue statistics of Gaussian divisible Hermitian Wigner matrices. These random matrices are obtained by adding an independent GUE matrix to an Hermitian random matrix with independent elements, a Wigner matrix. We prove that Tracy-Widom universality holds at the edge in this class of random matrices under the optimal moment condition that there is a uniform bound on the fourth moment of the matrix elements. Furthermore, we show that universality holds in the bulk for Gaussian divisible Wigner matrices if we just assume finite second moments.
We prove universality of local eigenvalue statistics in the bulk of the spectrum for orthogonal invariant matrix models with real analytic potentials with one interval limiting spectrum. Our starting point is the Tracy-Widom formula for the matrix reproducing kernel. The key idea of the proof is to represent the differentiation operator matrix written in the basis of orthogonal polynomials as a product of a positive Toeplitz matrix and a two diagonal skew symmetric Toeplitz matrix.
A family of random matrix ensembles interpolating between the GUE and the Ginibre ensemble of $n\times n$ matrices with iid centered complex Gaussian entries is considered. The asymptotic spectral distribution in these models is uniform in an ellipse in the complex plane, which collapses to an interval of the real line as the degree of non-Hermiticity diminishes. Scaling limit theorems are proven for the eigenvalue point process at the rightmost edge of the spectrum, and it is shown that a non-trivial transition occurs between Poisson and Airy point process statistics when the ratio of the axe…
We derive the local statistics of the canonical ensemble of free fermions in a quadratic potential well at finite temperature, as the particle number approaches infinity. This free fermion model is equivalent to a random matrix model proposed by Moshe, Neuberger and Shapiro. Limiting behaviors obtained before for the grand canonical ensemble are observed in the canonical ensemble: We have at the edge the phase transition from the Tracy--Widom distribution to the Gumbel distribution via the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) crossover distribution, and in the bulk the phase transition from the sine poin…
We study probabilistic and combinatorial aspects of natural volume-and-trace weighted plane partitions and their continuous analogues. We prove asymptotic limit laws for the largest parts of these ensembles in terms of new and known hard- and soft-edge distributions of random matrix theory. As a corollary we obtain an asymptotic transition between Gumbel and Tracy--Widom GUE fluctuations for the largest part of such plane partitions, with the continuous Bessel kernel providing the interpolation. We interpret our results in terms of two natural models of directed last passage percolation (LPP):…
We investigate the probability distribution of the length of the second row of a Young diagram of size $N$ equipped with Plancherel measure. We obtain an expression for the generating function of the distribution in terms of a derivative of an associated Fredholm determinant, which can then be used to show that as $N\to\infty$ the distribution converges to the Tracy-Widom distribution [TW] for the second largest eigenvalue of a random GUE matrix. This paper is a sequel to [BDJ], where we showed that as $N\to\infty$ the distribution of the length of the first row of a Young diagram, or equivale…
We study a system of N non-intersecting Brownian motions on a line segment [0,L] with periodic, absorbing and reflecting boundary conditions. We show that the normalized reunion probabilities of these Brownian motions in the three models can be mapped to the partition function of two-dimensional continuum Yang-Mills theory on a sphere respectively with gauge groups U(N), Sp(2N) and SO(2N). Consequently, we show that in each of these Brownian motion models, as one varies the system size L, a third order phase transition occurs at a critical value L=L_c(N)\sim \sqrt{N} in the large N limit. Clos…
We give a proof of the Universality Conjecture for orthogonal and symplectic ensembles of random matrices in the scaling limit for a class of weights w(x)=exp(-V(x)) where V is a polynomial, V(x)=kappa_{2m}x^{2m}+..., kappa_{2m}>0. For such weights the associated equilibrium measure is supported on a single interval. The precise statement of our results is given in Theorem 1.1 below. For a proof of the Universality Conjecture for unitary ensembles, for the same class of weights, see [DKMVZ2]. Our starting point is Widom's representation [W] of the orthogonal and symplectic correlation kernels …
The probability that an interval $I$ is free of eigenvalues in a matrix ensemble with unitary symmetry is given by a Fredholm determinant. When the weight function in the matrix ensemble is a classical weight function, and the interval $I$ includes an endpoint of the support, Tracy and Widom have given a formalism which gives coupled differential equations for the required probability and some auxilary quantities. We summarize and extend earlier work by expressing the probability and some of the auxilary quantities in terms of Painlevé transcendents.
We consider the double scaling limit in the random matrix ensemble with an external source $\frac{1}{Z_n} e^{-n \Tr({1/2}M^2 -AM)} dM$ defined on $n\times n$ Hermitian matrices, where $A$ is a diagonal matrix with two eigenvalues $\pm a$ of equal multiplicities. The value $a=1$ is critical since the eigenvalues of $M$ accumulate as $n \to \infty$ on two intervals for $a > 1$ and on one interval for $0 < a < 1$. These two cases were treated in Parts I and II, where we showed that the local eigenvalue correlations have the universal limiting behavior known from unitary random matrix ensembles. F…
We develop a new method for deriving local laws for a large class of random matrices. It is applicable to many matrix models built from sums and products of deterministic or independent random matrices. In particular, it may be used to obtain local laws for matrix ensembles that are \emph{anisotropic} in the sense that their resolvents are well approximated by deterministic matrices that are not multiples of the identity. For definiteness, we present the method for sample covariance matrices of the form $Q := T X X^* T^*$, where $T$ is deterministic and $X$ is random with independent entries. …
The purpose of this article is to study the eigenvalues $u_1^{\, t}=e^{itθ_1},\dots,u_N^{\,t}=e^{itθ_N}$ of $U^t$ where $U$ is a large $N\times N$ random unitary matrix and $t>0$. In particular we are interested in the typical times $t$ for which all the eigenvalues are simultaneously close to $1$ in different ways thus corresponding to recurrence times in the issue of quantum measurements. Our strategy consists in rewriting the problem as a random matrix integral and use loop equations techniques to compute the first orders of the large $N$ asymptotic. We also connect the problem to the compu…
Directed Polymer Transfer Matrices as a Unified Generator of Distinct One-Point Fluctuation Laws
Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems（马克斯·普朗克复杂系统物理研究所）；School of Science, Constructor University（Constructor大学理学院）；Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院物理系）
Complex analysis is a powerful tool to study classical integrable systems, statistical physics on the random lattice, random matrix theory, topological string theory,... All these topics share certain relations, called "loop equations" or "Virasoro constraints". In the simplest case, the complete solution of those equations was found recently: it can be expressed in the framework of differential geometry over a certain Riemann surface which depends on the problem : the "spectral curve". This thesis is a contribution to the development of these techniques, and to their applications. Keywords: r…
Landau, Pollak, Slepian, and Tracy, Widom discovered that certain integral operators with so called Bessel and Airy kernels possess commuting differential operators and found important applications of this phenomena in time-band limiting and random matrix theory. In this paper we announce that very large classes of integral operators derived from bispectral algebras of rank 1 and 2 (parametrized by lagrangian grassmannians of infinitely large size) have this property. The above examples come from special points in these grassmannians.
The generating functions for the gauge theory observables are often represented in terms of the unitary matrix integrals. In this work, the perturbative and non-perturbative aspects of the generic multi-critical unitary matrix models are studied by adopting the integrable operator formalism, and the multi-critical generalization of the Tracy--Widom distribution in the context of random partitions. We obtain the universal results for the multi-critical model in the weak and strong coupling phases. The free energy of the instanton sector in the weak coupling regime, and the genus expansion of th…
In this paper, we study the large $N$ behavior of the moment-generating function (MGF) of the linear statistics of $N\times N$ Hermitian matrices in the Gaussian unitary, symplectic, orthogonal ensembles (GUE, GSE, GOE) and Laguerre unitary, symplectic, orthogonal ensembles (LUE, LSE, LOE) at the edge of the spectrum. From the finite $N$ Fredholm determinant expression of the MGF of the linear statistics, we find the large $N$ asymptotics of the MGF associated with the Airy kernel in these Gaussian and Laguerre ensembles. Then we obtain the mean and variance of the suitably scaled linear stati…
In the last decade there has been increasing interest in the fields of random matrices, interacting particle systems, stochastic growth models, and the connections between these areas. For instance, several objects appearing in the limit of large matrices arise also in the long time limit for interacting particles and growth models. Examples of these are the famous Tracy-Widom distribution functions and the Airy_2 process. The link is however sometimes fragile. For example, the connection between the eigenvalues in the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensembles (GOE) and growth on a flat substrate is restr…
We study the asymptotic distribution, as the volume parameter goes to 1, of the peak (largest part) of finite- or slowly-growing-width cylindric plane partitions weighted by their trace, seam, and volume. There are two natural asymptotic regimes depending on the trace/seam parameters, and in both cases we obtain asymptotics governed by finite temperature (periodic) analogues of the Bessel and Airy gap probabilities from random matrix theory. In particular, the distributions we obtain interpolate \emph{in more than one way} between two well-known extremal value distributions: the Gumbel distrib…
Our goal is to discuss in detail the calculation of the mean number of stationary points and minima for random isotropic Gaussian fields on a sphere as well as for stationary Gaussian random fields in a background parabolic confinement. After developing the general formalism based on the high-dimensional Kac-Rice formulae we combine it with the Random Matrix Theory (RMT) techniques to perform analysis of the random energy landscape of $p-$spin spherical spinglasses and a related glass model, both displaying a zero-temperature one-step replica symmetry breaking glass transition as a function of…
We study the fluctuations of the largest eigenvalue $λ_{\max}$ of $N \times N$ random matrices in the limit of large $N$. The main focus is on Gaussian $β$-ensembles, including in particular the Gaussian orthogonal ($β=1$), unitary ($β=2$) and symplectic ($β= 4$) ensembles. The probability density function (PDF) of $λ_{\max}$ consists, for large $N$, of a central part described by Tracy-Widom distributions flanked, on both sides, by two large deviations tails. While the central part characterizes the typical fluctuations of $λ_{\max}$ -- of order ${\cal O}(N^{-2/3})$ --, the large deviations t…
String equations related to 2D gravity seem to provide, quite naturally and systematically, integrable kernels, in the sense of Its-Izergin-Korepin and Slavnov. Some of these kernels (besides the "classical" examples of Airy and Pearcey) have already appeared in random matrix theory and they have a natural Wronskian structure, given by one of the operators in the string relation $[L^\pm,Q^\pm] = \pm 1$, namely $L^\pm$. The kernels are intimately related to wave functions for Gel'fand-Dickey reductions of the KP hierarchy. The Fredholm determinants of these kernels also satisfy Virasoro constra…
Recently Tracy and Widom conjectured [math.CO/9904042] and Johansson proved [math.CO/9906120] that the expected shape λof the semi-standard tableau produced by a random word in k letters is asymptotically the spectrum of a random traceless k by k GUE matrix. In this article we give two arguments for this fact. In the first argument, we realize the random matrix itself as a quantum random variable on the space of random words, if this space is viewed as a quantum state space. In the second argument, we show that the distribution of λis asymptotically given by the usual local limit theorem, but …
We establish the universal edge scaling limit of random partitions with the infinite-parameter distribution called the Schur measure. We explore the asymptotic behavior of the wave function, which is a building block of the corresponding kernel, based on the Schr{ö}dinger-type differential equation. We show that the wave function is in general asymptotic to the Airy function and its higher-order analogs in the edge scaling limit. We construct the corresponding higher-order Airy kernel and the Tracy-Widom distribution from the wave function in the scalins limit, and discuss its implication to t…
In this work we discuss connections between a one-dimensional system of $N$ particles interacting with a repulsive inverse square potential and confined in a harmonic potential (Calogero-Moser model) and the log-gas model which appears in random matrix theory. Both models have the same minimum energy configuration, with the particle positions given by the zeros of the Hermite polynomial. Moreover, the Hessian describing small oscillations around equilibrium are also related for the two models. The Hessian matrix of the Calogero-Moser model is the square of that of the log-gas. We explore this …
The authors consider the length, $l_N$, of the length of the longest increasing subsequence of a random permutation of $N$ numbers. The main result in this paper is a proof that the distribution function for $l_N$, suitably centered and scaled, converges to the Tracy-Widom distribution [TW1] of the largest eigenvalue of a random GUE matrix. The authors also prove convergence of moments. The proof is based on the steepest decent method for Riemann-Hilbert problems, introduced by Deift and Zhou in 1993 [DZ1] in the context of integrable systems. The applicability of the Riemann-Hilbert technique…
