This article focuses on chiral random matrix theories with the global symmetries of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In particular, it explains how random matrix theory (RMT) can be applied to the spectra of the Dirac operator both at zero chemical potential, when the Dirac operator is Hermitian, and at non-zero chemical potential, when the Dirac operator is non-Hermitian. Before discussing the spectra of these Dirac operators at non-zero chemical potential, the article considers spontaneous symmetry breaking in RMT and the QCD partition function. It then examines the global symmetries of QCD, taking into account the Dirac operator for a finite chiral basis, as well as the global symmetry breaking pattern and the Goldstone manifold in chiral random matrix theory (chRMT). It also describes the generating function for the Dirac spectrum and applications of chRMT to QCD to gauge degrees of freedom.
Spectrum of the SU(3) Dirac operator on the lattice: Transition from random matrix theory to chiral perturbation theory