Description:
Recently, a non-Hermitian chiral random matrix model was proposed to describe the eigenvalues
of the QCD Dirac operator at nonzero chemical potential. This matrix model can be constructed
from QCD by mapping it to an equivalent matrix model which has the same symmetries as QCD
with chemical potential. Its microscopic spectral correlations are conjectured to be identical to
those of the QCD Dirac operator. We investigate this conjecture by comparing large ensembles of
Dirac eigenvalues in quenched SU(3) lattice QCD at nonzero chemical potential to the analytical
predictions of the matrix model. Excellent agreement is found in the two regimes of weak and strong
non-Hermiticity, for several different lattice volumes.