Distributions of Matrices over $\mathbb{F}_q[x]$

Abstract

In this paper, we count the number of matrices $A = (A_{i,j} )\in \mathcal{O} \subset Mat_{n\times n}(\mathbb{F}_q[x])$ where $deg(A_{i,j})\leq k, 1\leq i,j\leq n$, $deg(\det A) = t$, and $\mathcal{O}$ a given orbit of $GL_n(\mathbb{F}_q[x])$. By an elementary argument, we show that the above number is exactly $\# GL_n(\mathbb{F}_q)\cdot q^{(n-1)(nk-t)}$. This formula gives an equidistribution result over $\mathbb{F}_q[x]$ which is an analogue, in strong form, of a result over $\mathbb{Z}$ before.