Uniform positivity of Lyapunov exponent for a class of smooth Schrödinger cocycles with weak Liouville frequencies (Q2358371): Difference between revisions

Consider the family of Schrödinger operators \(H_{\alpha, v,x}\) on \(\ell^2(\mathbb{Z})\ni u=(u_n)_{n\in\mathbb{Z}}\): \[ (H_{\alpha,\lambda v,x}u)_n=u_{n+1}+u_{n-1}+\lambda v(x+n\alpha)u_n, \] where \(v\in C^2(\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{R})\) is the potential, \(\lambda\in \mathbb{R}\) the coupling constant, \(x\in \mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}\) is the phase, and \(\alpha\in \mathbb{R}\) is the frequency. The associated cocycle \(A^{(E-\lambda v)}\) is given by \[ A^{(E-\lambda v)}(x)=\begin{pmatrix} E-\lambda v & -1 \\ 1 & 0 \\ \end{pmatrix}. \] Define the Lyapunov exponent by \[ L(\alpha,A)=\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty} \frac{1}{n}\int_{\mathbb{R}\big/ \mathbb{Z}} \ln \| A_n(x)\|dx, \] where \[ A_n(x) = A(x+(n-1)\alpha)A(x+(n-2)\alpha)\cdots A(x). \] The Lyapunov exponent is an important feature to study the dynamical behavior of the cocycle \(A^{(E-\lambda v)}\) and the spectral properties of Schrödinger operators. There are many results on Lyapunov exponents for Schrödinger cocycles if the potential \(v\) is analytic. \textit{Y. Wang} and \textit{Z. Zhang} [J. Funct. Anal. 268, No. 9, 2525--2585 (2015; Zbl 1368.37083)] developed the method of \textit{L. S. Young} [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 17, No. 2, 483--504 (1997; Zbl 0873.28013)] to obtain the lower bound of the Lyapunov exponent for a family of \(C^2\)-potentials. Here, \(\alpha\) is Diophantine if there exist \(\kappa,\tau>0\) such that \[ |q\alpha-p|>\kappa |q|^{-\tau} \text{ for any } (p,q)\in \mathbb{Z}^2, q\neq 0. \] The spectral types of quasi-periodic operators heavily depend on the arithmetic of frequency and the Diophantine condition is necessary in many situations. The contribution of the paper is a generalization of Wang-Zhang's result to weak Liouville frequencies.