Some asymptotic results on finite vector spaces (Q1823246): Difference between revisions

The paper is devoted to several combinatorial quantities concerning the finite general linear groups and their asymptotic behavior with growing dimension. The numbers \(f_ d\) and \(\hat f_ d\) of conjugacy classes of all invertible \(d\times d\)-matrices GL(d,q) and of all \(d\times d\)-matrices Mat(d,q) over the finite field GF(q) are shown to be asymptotically \(cq^ a\) with growing dimension d, where c is a constant depending on q. It is proved that the expected number of cycles \((=\) minimal invariant subspaces) of a random member of GL(d,q) is \(\log (d)=0(1)\) with variance also \(\log (d)+0(1).\) The fraction of invertible matrices without one- dimensional invariant subspaces (i.e. without fixed point when regarded as transformation on the projective space) is asymptotic to a constant depending on q. Several further results of this flavor concerning the factors of the characteristic polynomials are contained in the paper.