We consider $N\times N$ Hermitian or symmetric random matrices with independent entries. The distribution of the $(i,j)$-th matrix element is given by a probability measure $\nu_{ij}$ whose first two moments coincide with those of the corresponding Gaussian ensemble. We prove that the joint probability distribution of the components of eigenvectors associated with eigenvalues close to the spectral edge agrees with that of the corresponding Gaussian ensemble. For eigenvectors associated with bulk eigenvalues, the same conclusion holds provided the first four moments of the distribution $\nu_{ij}$ coincide with those of the corresponding Gaussian ensemble. More generally, we prove that the joint eigenvector-eigenvalue distributions near the spectral edge of two generalized Wigner ensembles agree, provided that the first two moments of the entries match and that one of the ensembles satisfies a level repulsion estimate. If in addition the first four moments match then this result holds also in the bulk.

We consider sample covariance matrices of the form $X^*X$, where $X$ is an $M times N$ matrix with independent random entries. We prove the isotropic local Marchenko-Pastur law, i.e. we prove that the resolvent $(X^* X - z)^{-1}$ converges to a multiple of the identity in the sense of quadratic forms. More precisely, we establish sharp high-probability bounds on the quantity $langle v, (X^* X - z)^{-1} w rangle - langle v,w rangle m(z)$, where $m$ is the Stieltjes transform of the Marchenko-Pastur law and $v, w in mathbb C^N$. We require the logarithms of the dimensions $M$ and $N$ to be comparable. Our result holds down to scales $Im z geq N^{-1+epsilon}$ and throughout the entire spectrum away from 0. We also prove analogous results for generalized Wigner matrices.

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We use the known convergence of loop-erased random walk to radial SLE(2) to give a new proof that the scaling limit of loop-erased random walk excursion in the upper half-plane is chordal SLE(2). Our proof relies on a version of Wilson’s algorithm for weighted graphs which is used together with a Beurling-type estimate for random walk excursion. We also establish and use the convergence of the radial SLE path to the chordal SLE path as the bulk point tends to a boundary point. In the final section we sketch how to extend our results to more general simply connected domains.

We derive the joint asymptotic distribution of the outlier eigenvalues of an additively deformed Wigner matrix $H$. Our only assumptions on the deformation are that its rank be fixed and its norm bounded. Our results extend those of [The isotropic semicircle law and deformation of Wigner matrices. Preprint] by admitting overlapping outliers and by computing the joint distribution of all outliers. In particular, we give a complete description of the failure of universality first observed in [Ann. Probab. 37 (2009) 1-47; Ann. Inst. Henri Poincar\'{e} Probab. Stat. 48 (1013) 107-133; Free convolution with a semi-circular distribution and eigenvalues of spiked deformations of Wigner matrices. Preprint]. We also show that, under suitable conditions, outliers may be strongly correlated even if they are far from each other. Our proof relies on the isotropic local semicircle law established in [The isotropic semicircle law and deformation of Wigner matrices. Preprint]. The main technical achievement of the current paper is the joint asymptotics of an arbitrary finite family of random variables of the form $\langle\mathbf{v},(H-z)^{-1}\mathbf{w}\rangle$.