Singular vector distribution of sample covariance matrices
Probability
2026-01-14 v3
Abstract
We consider a class of sample covariance matrices of the form where is an rectangular matrix consisting of i.i.d entries and is a deterministic matrix satisfying is diagonal. Assuming is comparable to , we prove that the distribution of the components of the singular vectors close to the edge singular values agrees with that of Gaussian ensembles provided the first two moments of coincide with the Gaussian random variables. For the singular vectors associated with the bulk singular values, the same conclusion holds if the first four moments of match with those of Gaussian random variables. Similar results have been proved for Wigner matrices by Knowles and Yin.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1611.01837,
title = {Singular vector distribution of sample covariance matrices},
author = {Xiucai Ding},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1611.01837},
year = {2026}
}