Some asymptotic results on finite vector spaces (Q1823246)

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.