Bernstein type inequality for a class of dependent random matrices

Abstract: In this paper we obtain a Bernstein type inequality for the sum of self-adjoint centered and geometrically absolutely regular random matrices with bounded largest eigenvalue. This inequality can be viewed as an extension to the matrix setting of the Bernstein-type inequality obtained by Merlev`ede et al. (2009) in the context of real-valued bounded random variables that are geometrically absolutely regular. The proofs rely on decoupling the Laplace transform of a sum on a Cantor-like set of random matrices.