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Abstract

We propose a new definition of characteristic polynomials of tensors based on a partition function of Grassmann variables. This new notion of characteristic polynomial addresses general tensors including totally antisymmetric ones, but not totally symmetric ones. Drawing an analogy with matrix eigenvalues obtained from the roots of their characteristic polynomials, we study the roots of our tensor characteristic polynomial. Unlike standard definitions of eigenvalues of tensors of dimension $N$ giving $\sim e^{{\text{constant}} \, N}$ number of eigenvalues, our polynomial always has $N$ roots. For random Gaussian tensors, the density of roots follows a generalized Wigner semi-circle law based on the Fuss-Catalan distribution, introduced previously by Gurau [arXiv:2004.02660 [math-ph]].