Localization of One-Dimensional Random Band Matrices

Abstract

We consider a general class of $n\times n$ random band matrices with bandwidth $W$. When $W^2\ll n$, we prove that with high probability the eigenvectors of such matrices are localized and decay exponentially at the sharp scale $W^2$. Combined with the delocalization results of Yau and Yin [arXiv:2501.01718] and of Erd\H{o}s and Riabov [arXiv:2506.06441], this establishes the conjectured localization-delocalization transition for a large class of random band matrices.