arXiv subjects

Benjamin McKenna

Publications and source records attributed to Benjamin McKenna.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Spectral recovery of a planted triangle-dense subgraph

Given a simple graph on $n$ vertices and a parameter $k$, the triangle-densest-$k$-subgraph problem is known to be computationally hard in the worst case. To circumvent the computational hardness, we study an average-case model where a triangle-dense subgraph on $k$ vertices is planted in an Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graph on $n$ vertices. For the recovery of the planted subgraph, we propose a simple spectral algorithm and a semidefinite program, both of which use a graph matrix whose entries are local signed triangle counts. Theoretical guarantees for these algorithms are established through spectral analysis of the graph matrix. Finally, we provide evidence showing a statistical-to-computational gap analogous to that for the planted clique problem. The computational threshold in terms of the subgraph size $k$ is at least $\sqrt{n}$ in the framework of low-degree polynomial algorithms, while the information-theoretic threshold is at most logarithmic in $n$.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2026

A moment-based approach to the injective norm of random tensors

In this paper, we present a technically simple method to establish upper bounds on the expected injective norm of real and complex random tensors. Our approach is somewhat analogous to the moment method in random matrix theory, and is based on a deterministic upper bound on the injective norm of a tensor which might be of independent interest. Compared to previous approaches to these problems (spin-glass methods, epsilon-net techniques, Sudakov-Fernique arguments, and PAC-Bayesian proofs), our method has the benefit of being nonasymptotic, relatively elementary, and applicable to non-Gaussian models. We illustrate our approach on various models of random tensors, recovering some previously known (and conjecturally tight) bounds with simpler arguments, and presenting new bounds, some of which are provably tight. From the perspective of statistical physics, our results yield rigorous estimates on the ground-state energy of real and complex, possibly non-Gaussian, spin glass models. From the perspective of quantum information, they establish bounds on the geometric entanglement of random bosonic states and of random states with bounded multipartite Schmidt rank, both in the thermodynamic limits as well as the regimes of large local dimensions.

math.PR↗

arXiv2024

Injective norm of real and complex random tensors I: From spin glasses to geometric entanglement

The injective norm is a natural generalization to tensors of the operator norm of a matrix. In quantum information, the injective norm is one important measure of genuine multipartite entanglement of quantum states, where it is known as the geometric entanglement. In this paper, we give a high-probability upper bound on the injective norm of real and complex Gaussian random tensors, corresponding to a lower bound on the geometric entanglement of random quantum states, and to a bound on the ground-state energy of a particular multispecies spherical spin glass model. For some cases of our model, previous work used $ε$-net techniques to identify the correct order of magnitude; in the present work, we use the Kac--Rice formula to give a one-sided bound on the constant which we believe to be tight.

math.PR↗

arXiv2023

Universality for the global spectrum of random inner-product kernel matrices in the polynomial regime

We consider certain large random matrices, called random inner-product kernel matrices, which are essentially given by a nonlinear function $f$ applied entrywise to a sample-covariance matrix, $f(X^TX)$, where $X \in \mathbb{R}^{d \times N}$ is random and normalized in such a way that $f$ typically has order-one arguments. We work in the polynomial regime, where $N \asymp d^\ell$ for some $\ell > 0$, not just the linear regime where $\ell = 1$. Earlier work by various authors showed that, when the columns of $X$ are either uniform on the sphere or standard Gaussian vectors, and when $\ell$ is an integer (the linear regime $\ell = 1$ is particularly well-studied), the bulk eigenvalues of such matrices behave in a simple way: They are asymptotically given by the free convolution of the semicircular and Marčenko-Pastur distributions, with relative weights given by expanding $f$ in the Hermite basis. In this paper, we show that this phenomenon is universal, holding as soon as $X$ has i.i.d. entries with all finite moments. In the case of non-integer $\ell$, the Marčenko-Pastur term disappears (its weight in the free convolution vanishes), and the spectrum is just semicircular.

math.PR↗

arXiv2023

Complexity of bipartite spherical spin glasses

This paper characterizes the annealed complexity of bipartite spherical spin glasses, both pure and mixed. This means we give exact variational formulas for the asymptotics of the expected numbers of critical points and of local minima. This problem was initially considered by [Auffinger, Chen 2014], who gave upper and lower bounds on this complexity. We find two surprising connections between pure bipartite and pure single-species spin glasses, which were studied by [Auffinger, Ben Arous, Černý 2013]. First, the local minima of any pure bipartite model lie primarily in a low-energy band, similar to the single-species case. Second, for a more restricted set of pure $(p, q)$ bipartite models, the complexity matches exactly that of a pure $p + q$ single-species model.

math.PR↗

arXiv2023

Large deviations for the largest eigenvalue of generalized sample covariance matrices

We establish a large-deviations principle for the largest eigenvalue of a generalized sample covariance matrix, meaning a matrix proportional to $Z^T ΓZ$, where $Z$ has i.i.d. real or complex entries and $Γ$ is not necessarily the identity. We treat the classical case when $Z$ is Gaussian and $Γ$ is positive definite, but we also cover two orthogonal extensions: Either the entries of $Z$ can instead be sharp sub-Gaussian, a class including Rademacher and uniform distributions, where we find the same rate function as for the Gaussian model; or $Γ$ can have negative eigenvalues if $Z$ remains Gaussian. The latter case confirms formulas of Maillard in the physics literature. We also apply our techniques to the largest eigenvalue of a deformed Wigner matrix, real or complex, where we upgrade previous large-deviations estimates to a full large-deviations principle. Finally, we remove several technical assumptions present in previous related works.

math.PR↗

arXiv2022

Extremal statistics of quadratic forms of GOE/GUE eigenvectors

We consider quadratic forms of deterministic matrices $A$ evaluated at the random eigenvectors of a large $N \times N$ GOE or GUE matrix, or equivalently evaluated at the columns of a Haar-orthogonal or Haar-unitary random matrix. We prove that, as long as the deterministic matrix has rank much smaller than $\sqrt{N}$, the distributions of the extrema of these quadratic forms are asymptotically the same as if the eigenvectors were independent Gaussians. This reduces the problem to Gaussian computations, which we carry out in several cases to illustrate our result, finding Gumbel or Weibull limiting distributions depending on the signature of $A$. Our result also naturally applies to the eigenvectors of any invariant ensemble.

math.PR↗

arXiv2022

Exponential growth of random determinants beyond invariance

We give simple criteria to identify the exponential order of magnitude of the absolute value of the determinant for wide classes of random matrix models, not requiring the assumption of invariance. These include Gaussian matrices with covariance profiles, Wigner matrices and covariance matrices with subexponential tails, Erdős-Rényi and $d$-regular graphs for any polynomial sparsity parameter, and non-mean-field random matrix models, such as random band matrices for any polynomial bandwidth. The proof builds on recent tools, including the theory of the Matrix Dyson Equation as developed in [Ajanki, Erdős, Krüger 2019]. We use these asymptotics as an important input to identify the complexity of classes of Gaussian random landscapes in our companion papers [Ben Arous, Bourgade, McKenna 2021; McKenna 2021].

math.PR↗

arXiv2021

Landscape complexity beyond invariance and the elastic manifold

This paper characterizes the annealed, topological complexity (both of total critical points and of local minima) of the elastic manifold. This classical model of a disordered elastic system captures point configurations with self-interactions in a random medium. We establish the simple-vs.-glassy phase diagram in the model parameters, with these phases separated by a physical boundary known as the Larkin mass, confirming formulas of Fyodorov and Le Doussal. One essential, dynamical, step of the proof also applies to a general signal-to-noise model of soft spins in an anisotropic well, for which we prove a negative-second-moment threshold distinguishing positive from zero complexity. A universal near-critical behavior appears within this phase portrait, namely quadratic near-critical vanishing of the complexity of total critical points, and cubic near-critical vanishing of the complexity of local minima. These two models serve as a paradigm of complexity calculations for Gaussian landscapes exhibiting few distributional symmetries, i.e. beyond the invariant setting. The two main inputs for the proof are determinant asymptotics for non-invariant random matrices from our companion paper [Ben Arous, Bourgade, McKenna 2021], and the atypical convexity and integrability of the limiting variational problems.

math.PR↗

arXiv2019

Large deviations for extreme eigenvalues of deformed Wigner random matrices

We present a large deviation principle at speed N for the largest eigenvalue of some additively deformed Wigner matrices. In particular this includes Gaussian ensembles with full-rank general deformation. For the non-Gaussian ensembles, the deformation should be diagonal, and we assume that the laws of the entries have sharp sub-Gaussian Laplace transforms and satisfy certain concentration properties. For these latter ensembles we establish the large deviation principle in a restricted range $(-\infty, x_c)$, where $x_c$ depends on the deformation only and can be infinite.

math.PR↗