Asymptotics of beta-Hermite Ensembles

Abstract: In this thesis we present results about some eigenvalue statistics of the beta-Hermite ensembles, both in the classical cases corresponding to beta = 1, 2, 4, that is the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (consisting of real symmetric matrices), the Gaussian unitary ensemble (consisting of complex Hermitian matrices) and the Gaussian symplectic ensembles (consisting of quaternionic self-dual matrices) respectively. We also look at the less explored general beta-Hermite ensembles (consisting of real tridiagonal symmetric matrices). Specifically we look at the empirical distribution function and two different scalings of the largest eigenvalue. The results we present relating to these statistics are the convergence of the empirical distribution function to the semicircle law, the convergence of the scaled largest eigenvalue to the Tracy-Widom distributions, and with a different scaling, the convergence of the largest eigenvalue to 1. We also use simulations to illustrate these results. For the Gaussian unitary ensemble, we present an expression for its level density. To aid in understanding the Gaussian symplectic ensemble we present properties of the eigenvalues of quaternionic matrices. Finally, we prove a theorem about the symmetry of the order statistic of the eigenvalues of the beta-Hermite ensembles.