The Segal-Bargmann transform for unitary groups in the large-N limit

Abstract: This paper describes results of the author with B. K. Driver and T. Kemp concerning the large-N limit of the Segal--Bargmann transform for the unitary group U(N). We consider the transform on matrix-valued functions that are polynomials in a single variable in U(N). We show that in the large-N limit, the transform maps functions of this type to single-variable polynomial functions on the complex group GL(N;C). This result was conjectured by Ph. Biane and was also proved independently by G. C\'ebron. The first main ingredient in our proof of this result is an "asymptotic product rule" for the Laplacian on U(N), which allows us to compute explicitly the leading-order large-N behavior of the heat operator on U(N). The second main ingredient in the proof is the phenomenon of "concentration of traces," in which the relevant heat kernel measures are concentrating onto sets where the trace of any power of the variable is constant.