Almost periodic Schrödinger operators along interval exchange transformations. (Q1405311)

The authors investigate the one-dimensional, discrete Schrödinger operators \(H_{\omega}:l^2({\mathbb Z}) \to l^2({\mathbb Z})\) of the form \[ H_{\omega}\psi_{j} = \psi_{j+1} + \psi_{j-1} + \omega_{j}\psi_{j}, \] where \(\omega = (\omega_{j})_{j\in {\mathbb Z}}\) is a sequence with values in a set of finitely many real numbers. The sequence (or potential) \(\omega\) is chosen in such a way that \(H_{\omega}\) belongs to a class of almost periodic Schrödinger operators. It is shown that for a dense set of potentials the Schrödinger operators \(H_{\omega}\) have a purely singular continuous spectrum. The potentials are constructed from interval exchange transformations (IET) as follows. Let \(\pi:\{1,\ldots,n\} \to \{1,\ldots,n\}\) be an irreducible permutation and \(\Lambda_{n} = \{{\mathbf a} = (a_{0},\ldots,a_{n})\in {\mathbb R}^{n+1} : 0 = a_{0}<\ldots < a_{n}=1\}\). Given \(x\in [0,1)\), the IET is defined by \[ E_{\mathbf a}(x) = x +\sum_{k=1}^{\pi(j)-1}(a_{\pi^{-1}(k)} - a_{\pi^{-1}(k)-1}) - \sum_{k=1}^{j-1}(a_{k}-a_{k-1})\;,\quad x\in [a_{j-1},a_{j}). \] Set \(E(\pi) = \{E_{\mathbf a}:[0,1) \to [0,1) : {\mathbf a}\in \Lambda_{n}\}\). Now, let \({\mathcal O}_{\mathbf a}(x) := \{(E_{\mathbf a}(x))^k : k\in {\mathbb Z}\}\) be the orbit of \(x\in [0,1)\). If the orbit is dense in \([0,1)\), the IET \(E_{\mathbf a}\) is called minimal. Furthermore, define \({\mathcal A}_{\mathbf a}: [0,1) \to \{1,\ldots,n\}\) by \({\mathcal A}_{\mathbf a}(x) = j\) iff \(x\in [a_{j-1},a_{j})\) for some \(j\in \{1,\ldots,n\}\) and extend this map naturally to a map on \({\mathcal O}_{\mathbf a}(x)\) with values in \(\Sigma_{n}:= \{1,\ldots,n\}^{{\mathbb Z}}\). With \(\phi(x):= {\mathcal A}_{\mathbf a}({\mathcal O}_{\mathbf a}(x))\), one has with \(\phi(x)\) the natural encoding of the orbit of \(x\) under \(E_{\mathbf a}\). Finally, set \(\Omega_{\mathbf a} =\) closure\(\{\phi([0,1)\}\). Given an injective function \(V:\{1,\ldots,n\} \to {\mathbb R}\), the main result of the article is the following. Theorem. There exists a dense subset \({\mathcal D} \subset E(\pi)\) such that each \(E_{\mathbf a}\in {\mathcal D}\) is minimal and aperiodic. For each \(E_{\mathbf a}\in {\mathcal D}\), the spectrum of the operator \(H_{V(\omega)}\) is the same for all \(\omega \in \Omega_{\mathbf a}\) and it is purely singular continuous for almost every \(x\in [0,1)\). The proof is based on a criterion of \textit{F. Delyon} and \textit{D. Petritis} [Commun. Math. Phys. 103, 441--444 (1986; Zbl 0604.35072)] to exclude eigenvalues and on the work of \textit{S. Kotani} [Rev. Math. Phys. 1, 129--133 (1989; Zbl 0713.60074)] as well as \textit{Y. Last} and \textit{B. Simon} [Invent. Math. 135, 329--367 (1999; Zbl 0931.34066)] to exclude the absolutely continuous spectrum.