Large $q$ convergence of random characteristic polynomials to random permutations and its applications


Abstract in English

We extend an observation due to Stong that the distribution of the number of degree $d$ irreducible factors of the characteristic polynomial of a random $n times n$ matrix over a finite field $mathbb{F}_{q}$ converges to the distribution of the number of length $d$ cycles of a random permutation in $S_{n}$, as $q rightarrow infty$, by having any finitely many choices of $d$, say $d_{1}, dots, d_{r}$. This generalized convergence will be used for the following two applications: the distribution of the cokernel of an $n times n$ Haar-random $mathbb{Z}_{p}$-matrix when $p rightarrow infty$ and a matrix version of Landaus theorem that estimates the number of irreducible factors of a random characteristic polynomial for large $n$ when $q rightarrow infty$.

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