| J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 42 No 46 (20 November 2009) 462002 (10pp) |
| doi:10.1088/1751-8113/42/46/462002 |
Integral formulae for the eigenvalue density of complex random matrices
Yi Wei1, Boris A Khoruzhenko2 and Yan V Fyodorov1
1 School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
2 Queen Mary University of London, School of Mathematical Sciences, London E1 4NS, UK
E-mail: yi.wei@aya.yale.edu
Received 17 August 2009, in final form 23 September 2009
Published 22 October 2009
| Abstract. We show that the density of complex eigenvalues for unitary invariant ensembles of complex matrices A can be written as an integral over the eigenvalues gj of AA†. For the standard random matrix ensembles with matrix density of the form ∏j w(gj), this integral can be further reduced to a twofold integral involving the Christoffel–Darboux kernel for the orthogonal polynomials associated with weight w. PACS numbers: 02.10Yn, 02.50.–r, 05.40.–a, 75.10.Nr |
1. Introduction
Random matrices have found many interesting applications in physical sciences and beyond. Motivated by applications, random matrix theory is concerned with studying statistical patterns in the eigenvalue distribution. In this context it helps to know the joint probability density function (jpdf) of eigenvalues. For the traditional random matrix ensembles the jpdf can be calculated in a closed form [1, 2], and, consequently, one gets access to various eigenvalue statistics such as the mean eigenvalue density, eigenvalue correlation functions or spacings between eigenvalues.
Recently, random matrices with complex eigenvalues filling densely parts of the complex plane have attracted considerable interest in the mathematical and theoretical physics literature. Compared to random matrices with real eigenvalues where one can study the eigenvalue distribution by moving off the real line and avoiding singularities, matrices with complex eigenvalues present much more of a challenge as one has to deal with generating functions, such as the resolvent, inside the domain of the eigenvalue distribution. Similarly, finding the jpdf of complex eigenvalues in a closed form is generally a difficult task which has been successfully accomplished for the Gaussian matrix ensembles [3–5] and a few ensembles beyond [6, 7].
One approach that has proved to be useful for studying eigenvalue distributions in the complex plane is based on the so-called method of Hermitization [8–10], or equivalently on the use of the logarithmic potential, see [11, 12]. In this approach one reduces the complex eigenvalue problem to a one-parameter family of real eigenvalue problems and then uses the standard techniques to deal with the latter. In this communication, building on the previous work of two of us [13], we develop an alternative approach to Hermitization.
We consider the general class of invariant random matrix ensembles. Our matrices A are complex N × N and the law of their distribution is invariant under the left and right multiplication by the unitary matrices. Without loss of generality we may assume this law to be of the form
where the weight W is a continuous symmetric function in the eigenvalues gj of AA† and dA is the Cartesian volume element in the space of complex matrices,
. The complex Ginibre ensemble [3] belongs to this class with the weight function
as well as its extension
, introduced by Feinberg and Zee [8]. Another example is provided by the Jacobi ensemble with
which appears naturally in the context of truncations of random unitary matrices [14, 15].
It is apparent that the eigenvalues zj of A are not completely independent of the eigenvalues gj of AA†. While it is rather difficult to give a precise deterministic description of the relation between the two sets of eigenvalues, one can link the eigenvalues of AA† to those of A in the stochastic setup. In the previous work [13] it was shown that the density of eigenvalues of A,
is completely determined by those of AA† in the following sense. If the eigenvalues of AA† are fixed, i.e.
in (1), then ρ(x, y) can be expressed in terms of the
's in a closed form, see theorem 2.1. This means that in the ensemble (1) with the general weight W one can obtain the density of eigenvalues by integrating over the eigenvalues of AA†. The corresponding integration formula is one of the two results of this communication, see theorem 2.2. The other one concerns the multiplicative weights,
which are pertinent to the Feinberg–Zee and Jacobi ensembles. We show that in this case the density of eigenvalues of A can be obtained by integrating the Christoffel–Darboux kernel for the orthogonal polynomials associated with the weight w, see theorem 2.3.
The communication is organized as follows. In section 2, we state our main results. The details of proofs are given in section 3 and section 4 contains two examples.
2. Main results
In order to state our main results we need to recall a theorem from the previous work [13]. Let z be a complex number and g = (g1, ..., gN). Define functions Fi(g), i = 1, ..., N, by
For future reference we note the following important symmetries: for each i = 1, ..., N
and
Theorem 2.1 (Wei and Fyodorov [13]). Let G = diag(g1, ..., gN) be a fixed positive diagonal matrix, such that 0 < g1 < · · · < gN < ∞, N ≥ 2 and U be a random unitary matrix drawn from the circular unitary ensemble (the unitary group U(N) equipped with the Haar measure). Then the density of eigenvalues of the matrices
averaged over the distribution of U is given by
Note that equation (4) has an extra factor 1/π compared to the similar one in [13]. This is due to a change in the normalization convention. In [13] the eigenvalue density was normalized to ∫ρ(z) d(|z|2) = 1 while in this communication we use the normalization ∫ρ(z) dx dy = 1.
Now, consider the random matrix ensembles defined in (1). We recall that the eigenvalues of A are confined to the region enclosed by two concentric circles |z|2 = minj gj and |z|2 = maxj gj with the gj's being the eigenvalues of AA†. Therefore, the eigenvalues of the matrix A drawn at random from the matrix distribution (1) all lie in the region a ≤ |z|2 ≤ b, where a and b are as defined in (1).
In this communication we show that theorem 2.1 implies
Theorem 2.2. The average density of the eigenvalues in the random matrix ensemble defined by (1) is given by
with the normalization constant
We also show that for the multiplicative weights (3) the N-fold integral in (8) reduces to a twofold integral as follows. Let pn(x) be the monic orthogonal polynomials associated with the weight function w(x),
and KN(x, y) be the corresponding Christoffel–Darboux kernel,
It is well known, see e.g. [1, 2], that KN determines the density of the eigenvalues of AA† averaged over the distribution of A,
As a simple corollary of theorem 2.2, we will show that the density of eigenvalues of A can also be expressed in terms of the kernel KN.
Theorem 2.3. The average density of the eigenvalues in the random matrix ensemble defined by (1), (3) is given by
Equation (12) gives the average density of complex eigenvalues in a closed form in terms of the orthogonal polynomials associated with the weight w(x) on the real interval (a, b). Although it does not look simple, (12) provides an efficient way of calculating the density for small matrix dimensions N, see example 2 in section 4. We also hope that it will be helpful in the large-N limit. The complexity of the derived equation (12) can be traced down to the determinantal formula for the eigenvalue density [16]
which was the starting point of the calculations in [13]. In contrast to Hermitian matrices, averages of ratios of the characteristic polynomials are rather complicated objects to study due to singularities in the denominator [17]. Interestingly, if separated, the `bosonic' and `fermionic' parts of the determinantal ratio in (13) are much simpler. For the ensemble of random matrices
as in theorem 2.1 they were calculated in [18], see also [17]:
and, in the limit
→ 0,
where Rg(z) is given by the formula on the rhs of equation (7) with
These formulae yield the averages over the ensemble of random matrices (1), (3) in the same way as theorem 2.1 implies theorems 2.2 and 2.3:
and
with
Equation (16) is an immediate consequence of (14) and the Heine formula (26) and equation (17) can be obtained by repeating the calculations given in the next section with Fi(g) replaced by F(b)i(g). Since the functions F(b)i(g) enjoy the same symmetries (5)–(6) as the Fi(g)'s, the derivation of (8) from (7) goes unchanged, leading to (17).
3. Proofs
Throughout this section we assume that N ≥ 2. We will use the notation Δ(g) for the Vandermonde determinant:
To prove theorems 2.2 and 2.3 we need the following two lemmas.
Lemma 3.1. The functions Fi(g) add up to zero:
Proof. Recall Lagrange interpolation: for any polynomial f(x) of degree N – 1 or less
This identity can be used to verify the following two summation formulae:
and
On rearranging terms in the square brackets in (4),
and making use of the above summation formulae, one sees that the contribution to ∑i Fi(g) corresponding to the first term on the rhs in (20) vanishes for all t and the contribution corresponding to the second term vanishes after integrating over t. ![]()
Lemma 3.2. Suppose that S(g) is a symmetric function in g1, ..., gN and such that the integrals below converge. Then, for any 0 ≤ α < β ≤ ∞,
Proof. By lemma 3.1, FN(g) = –∑N–1j = 1 Fi(g). Hence, in view of (6),
and (21) follows. ![]()
Proof of theorem 2.2. Consider the random matrix ensemble defined by (1). The density of eigenvalues ρ(z) (2) averaged over this ensemble can be related to that of theorem 2.1 by changing to the `polar' coordinates in the matrix space. Indeed, recalling the singular value decomposition, one can write
where both U and V are unitary with V being determined modulo multiplication by a diagonal unitary matrix, and G being the diagonal matrix of the ordered eigenvalues g1 < g2 < · · · < gN of AA†. Ignoring matrices with repeated gj's, the correspondence between A and (U, V, G) is one to one, with the Jacobian being proportional to Δ2(g) [19]. The matrices A and
have the same set of eigenvalues, and, by the invariance of the Haar measure, the mean eigenvalue density of
does not change when U gets multiplied by V. On changing to the polar coordinates (U, V, G) one then gets the desired relation
where
with QN as in (9).
Now apply theorem 2.1 to the integral and write explicitly
On making use of the symmetries of the functions Fi(g), see (5)–(6),
On the other hand,
In the last step, we have used (21) with α = |z|2, β = b and S(g) = W(g)Δ2(g). Now one can verify equations (8)–(9) by comparing (22) and (23). ![]()
Remark 1. By lemma 3.2, we also have
This formula is sometimes more convenient in applications.
Next, assume that the weight W(g) is multiplicative, as in equation (3). Then the normalization constant QN can be expressed in terms of the hj's (10):
This follows, see e.g. [1], from the identity
on recalling the Vandermonde determinant (18). The derivation leading from (8) to (12) which is given below is standard and is based on the identity [20]
which is an extension of the Heine formula, see, e.g. [21],
Proof of theorem 2.3. Note that
On making the substitution s = |z|2/t in the integral representation (4) for FN(g) and then applying theorem 2.2, the eigenvalue density function takes the form
Define gN + 1 = –s. Then, by (25), the integral over g1, ..., gN–1 yields
and theorem 2.3 follows. ![]()
Remark 2. By lemma 3.2, we also have an alternative form:
4. Examples
In this section, we give two examples of the calculation of the eigenvalue density with the help of the formulae obtained in this communication.
Example 1 (Complex Laguerre-type ensemble). Consider complex N × N matrices with the probability distribution
It is a simple modification of the complex Ginibre ensemble. This is a case when the alternative way of formulating theorem 2.3 becomes convenient. First, note that
The monic orthogonal polynomials associated with the weight w(x) = xa e–x, x > 0, are the generalized Laguerre polynomials Lan(x) scaled appropriately, pn(x) = (–1)nn!Lan(x) [22], and the Christoffel–Darboux kernel (11) is
Using the two integral formulae [23] below,
one can convert (28) into
recovering Ginibre's expression [1, 3].
Example 2 (Complex Hermite-type ensemble). In this example, we consider the ensemble of complex N × N matrices with the probability distribution
In this case the weight function is
, x > 0. A general expression for the associated orthogonal polynomials seems to be unknown; however, applying the Gram–Schmidt procedure one can easily construct them one by one, e.g.
It is then straightforward to apply theorem 2.3 and get the first two density functions
and
Here
is the error function:
.
Finally, since the density function of Hermite-type complex random matrices in example 2 is, to the best of our knowledge, not known in the literature, we compare our formula with numerical simulations. To this end, we generate 3 × 3 complex matrices according to the probability distribution (29). We draw a histogram of the radial part of eigenvalues, |z|, of the matrix A, see figure 1. To compare with the histogram, we use the appropriately normalized density function f3(|z|) = 2π|z|ρ3(z), which is shown by the solid line. From figure 1, we observe a very good match between our formula (30) and the results of numerical simulations.

| Figure 1. Histogram of the radial part of the eigenvalue distribution of 3 × 3 complex matrices A distributed as in (29), with sample size 50 000 and bin 0.05. Solid line represents the function f3(|z|) as derived from (30). |
Acknowledgments
The work in Nottingham was supported by EPSRC grant EP/C022496/1 `From Random Matrices to Random Landscapes'. Part of the work was done during the 2008 programme `Anderson Localisation: 50 years after' at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences where all three authors were supported by Visiting Fellowships.
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