Random matrices and Lyapunov coefficients regularity

Abstract

Analyticity and other properties of the largest or smallest Lyapunov exponent of a product of real matrices with a "cone property" are studied as functions of the matrices entries, as long as they vary without destroying the cone property. The result is applied to stability directions, Lyapunov coefficients and Lyapunov exponents of a class of products of random matrices and of dynamical systems. The method is based on the classical theory of the Mayer series in Statistical Mechanics of rarefied gases.