Thermalisation for Wigner matrices (Q2076310)

The main result of this paper is the computation of the leading deterministic approximation for the random quantity \(\langle f_1 (W) A_1 f_2 (W) A_2\dots f_k (W) A_k\rangle \), where each \(f_i\) is a Sobolev test function, each \(A_i\) is a bounded deterministic matrix and \(W\) is a large Wigner matrix. The authors provide an optimal error bound on the fluctuation of the random quantity. This result is a generalization of a previous article by \textit{D. Voiculescu} [Int. Math. Res. Not. 1998, No. 1, 41--63 (1998; Zbl 0895.60004)] who used \(f_i=p_i\) where \(p_i\)'s are polynomials. The authors define several new terms and give a brief survey of the subject that can help the reader understand the demonstrations without having to look for references. The authors further apply their results to \(e^itW\) for large values of \(t\) to obtain a precise decay rate for the overlaps of several deterministic matrices with temporally well separated Heisenberg time evolutions, which actually demonstrate the thermalization effect of the unitary group generated by Wigner matrices.