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arXiv · 2610.29305

Statistics of entries of matrices from the general linear group over a finite field

Ofir Gorodetsky
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Abstract

Let $\mathrm{GL}_n(\mathbb{F}_q)$ be the group of $n\times n$ invertible matrices over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. How many matrices in $\mathrm{GL}_n(\mathbb{F}_q)$ are there with a subset of their entries prescribed? Motivated by the random matrix theory of classical compact groups, we address this question and various variants, with a focus on asymptotic results that are valid as $n$ tends to infinity. Our methods are Fourier-analytic, with the main input being an exponential sum over $\mathrm{GL}_n(\mathbb{F}_q)$, evaluated in 1955 by Hodges via elementary methods. Our results turn out to be related to investigations carried out in other fields, including coding theory, universality for $p$-adic matrices and algebraic combinatorics.

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BibTeXRIS

Ofir Gorodetsky. 2026-10-21. Statistics of entries of matrices from the general linear group over a finite field. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29305

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