Upper bounds for the spectral multiplicity of operators associated with regular cocycles (Q1264291)

Let \(T: S^1\to S^1\), \(T(x)= x+\alpha\pmod 1\) be an irrational rotation on the circle, and \(\phi: S^1\to S^1\) a measurable function (cocycle). Many authors have studied the spectral properties of Anzai skew products \[ T_\phi: S^1\times S^1\to S^1\times S^1,\quad T_\phi(x,y)= (Tx, \phi(x)+ y), \] in the case that \(T_\phi\) is an ergodic transformation preserving the product Lebesgue measure. The work of the present author and that of \textit{O. N. Ageev} [Mat. Sb. 188, No. 8, 13-44 (1997; Zbl 0899.28003)] gives an almost complete solution to the problem of simplicity of spectrum in the case that \(\phi\) is a step cocycle. Associated with the study of skew products are unitary operators of the form: \[ V_\phi: L^2(S^1)\to L^2(S^1),\quad V_\phi f(x)= e^{2i\pi\phi(x)} f(Tx), \] (here \(\phi: S^1\to{\mathbf R}\)). It is known that the unitary operator induced by \(T_\phi\) on \(L^2(S^1\times S^1)\) can be decomposed into a direct sum of operators of the form \(V_{n\phi}\), so it suffices to study the spectral properties of the latter operators. It is also known that operators of the form \(V_\phi\) have a spectral type which is either purely discrete, purely singular continuous or purely Lebesgue, with uniform multiplicity. The following are the main results of this paper: Theorem 1. Let \(\phi: S^1\to{\mathbf R}\) be an absolutely continuous function and \(\beta= \int^1_0 \phi'(t)dt\). The maximal spectral multiplicity of \(V_\phi\) is strictly less than \(|\beta|+ 1\) if \(\beta\neq 0\), and if \(\beta= 0\), \(V_\phi\) has simple spectrum. Theorem 2. If \(\phi\) is a cocycle having bounded variation, then the maximal spectral multiplicity of \(V_\phi\) is majorized by \(\max\left(2,{2\over 3}\pi\text{ Var}(\phi)\right)\). The proofs are based on the idea of representing the irrational rotation as a local rank one transformation.