Kerov's interlacing sequences and random matrices

Abstract

To a $N \times N$ real symmetric matrix Kerov assigns a piecewise linear function whose local minima are the eigenvalues of this matrix and whose local maxima are the eigenvalues of its $(N-1) \times (N-1)$ submatrix. We study the scaling limit of Kerov's piecewise linear functions for Wigner and Wishart matrices. For Wigner matrices the scaling limit is given by the Verhik-Kerov-Logan-Shepp curve which is known from asymptotic representation theory. For Wishart matrices the scaling limit is also explicitly found, and we explain its relation to the Marchenko-Pastur limit spectral law.