Matrix group integrals, surfaces, and mapping class groups. I. U(n)

DOI10.1007/S00222-019-00891-4MaRDI QIDQ2326464zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Publication date 7 October 2019

Published in Inventiones Mathematicae (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.04862

induced measure random matrices stable commutator length unitary group

Graphs and abstract algebra (groups, rings, fields, etc.) (05C25) Random matrices (algebraic aspects) (15B52) Word problems, other decision problems, connections with logic and automata (group-theoretic aspects) (20F10) Probability measures on groups or semigroups, Fourier transforms, factorization (60B15) Random matrices (probabilistic aspects) (60B20)

Abstract: Since the 1970's, physicists and mathematicians who study random matrices in the GUE or GOE models are aware of intriguing connections between integrals of such random matrices and enumeration of graphs on surfaces. We establish a new aspect of this theory: for random matrices sampled from the group

m a t h c a l U l e f t (n i g h t)

of unitary matrices. More concretely, we study measures induced by free words on

m a t h c a l U l e f t (n i g h t)

. Let

F_{r}

be the free group on

r

generators. To sample a random element from

m a t h c a l U l e f t (n i g h t)

according to the measure induced by

w i n F_{r}

, one substitutes the

r

letters in

w

by

r

independent, Haar-random elements from

m a t h c a l U l e f t (n i g h t)

. The main theme of this paper is that every moment of this measure is determined by families of pairs

l e f t (S i g m a, f i g h t)

, where

S i g m a

is an orientable surface with boundary, and

f

is a map from

S i g m a

to the bouquet of

r

circles, which sends the boundary components of

S i g m a

to powers of

w

. A crucial role is then played by Euler characteristics of subgroups of the mapping class group of

S i g m a

. As corollaries, we obtain asymptotic bounds on the moments, we show that the measure on

m a t h c a l U l e f t (n i g h t)

bears information about the number of solutions to the equation

l e f t [u_{1}, v_{1} i g h t] c d o t s l e f t [u_{g}, v_{g} i g h t] = w

in the free group, and deduce that one can ``hear the stable commutator length of a word through its unitary word measures.

Review text

If uniformly random substitutions from a permutation group \(S_n\) in a word \(w\) always result in the uniform distribution, then \(w\) must be a primitive word. It is not known if the same holds when the permutation groups are replaced by the unitary matrix groups \(U(n)\). This problem, mentioned in the concluding section, motivates the study of distribution of words in compact groups, which is the underlying topic of the current paper. For words \(w_1,\dots,w_\ell\) in the free group, consider the expected value \(T_{w_1,\dots,w_\ell}(n)\) of the product \(\operatorname{tr}(w_1)\cdots \operatorname{tr}(w_\ell)\), where the \(w_i\) are evaluated at matrices chosen uniformly at random from the unitary group \(U(n)\). It is shown that the value of \(T_{w_1,\dots,w_\ell}\) is a rational function of (large enough) \(n\), with rational coefficients. The main theme of this paper is that the coefficients of the Laruent series of \(T_{w_1,\dots,w_\ell}(n)\) are determined by combinatorial data related to the \(w_j\). Namely, one considers pairs \((\Sigma,f)\) where \(\Sigma\) is an oriented, compact surface with \(\ell\) boundary components and no closed connected components; and \(f\) is a map from \(\Sigma\) to a bouquet of \(\ell\) loops, such that the restriction of \(f\) to the boundary represents the words \(w_j\). Applying a mixture of combinatorial geometry techniques, the authors prove that the coefficient of \(n^{-c}\) in the Laurent series of \(T_{w_1,\dots,w_n}\) is the sum of \(L^2\)-Euler characteristics of the stabilizers of \(f\) in the mapping class group of \(\Sigma\), ranging over equivalence classes of pairs \((\Sigma,f)\) with \(\chi(\Sigma) = -c\). An interesting application is that the leading coefficient of \(T_w(n)\) counts the presentations of \(w\) as a product of minimal length of commutators, up to equivalence, ``correcting for nontrivial stabilizers. Similarly, the stable commutator length can be read off from the orders of magnitude of the mixed values \(T_{w^{j_1},\dots,w^{j_p}}(n)\). The main object in the proof is a polysimplicial complex of transverse maps homotopic to \(f\), associated to a pair \((\Sigma,f)\). This complex is shown to be contractible. One is then able to obtain a combinatorial formula for the above-mentioned \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic.

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