English

Singular vector distribution of sample covariance matrices

Probability 2026-01-14 v3

Abstract

We consider a class of sample covariance matrices of the form Q=TXXT,Q=TXX^{*}T^*, where X=(xij)X=(x_{ij}) is an M×NM \times N rectangular matrix consisting of i.i.d entries and TT is a deterministic matrix satisfying TTT^*T is diagonal. Assuming MM is comparable to NN, 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 xijx_{ij} 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 xijx_{ij} match with those of Gaussian random variables. Similar results have been proved for Wigner matrices by Knowles and Yin.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1611.01837,
  title  = {Singular vector distribution of sample covariance matrices},
  author = {Xiucai Ding},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1611.01837},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T16:43:34.697Z