The Altshuler-Shklovskii formulas for random band matrices I: the unimodular case

We consider the spectral statistics of large random band matrices on mesoscopic energy scales. We show that the correlation function of the local eigenvalue density exhibits a universal power law behaviour that differs from the Wigner-Dyson- Mehta statistics. This law had been predicted in the physics literature by Altshuler and Shklovskii in (Zh Eksp Teor Fiz (Sov Phys JETP) 91(64):220(127), 1986); it describes the correlations of the eigenvalue density in general metallic sampleswith weak disorder. Our result rigorously establishes the Altshuler-Shklovskii formulas for band matrices. In two dimensions, where the leading term vanishes owing to an algebraic cancellation, we identify the first non-vanishing term and show that it differs substantially from the prediction of Kravtsov and Lerner in (Phys Rev Lett 74:2563-2566, 1995). The proof is given in the current paper and its companion (Ann. H. Poincaré. arXiv:1309.5107, 2014).