Bound states and the Szegő condition for Jacobi matrices and Schrödinger operators. (Q1421849)

The authors prove that for Jacobi matrices \(J\) with \(a_n = 1+c_n+d_{n+1}-d_n\) and \(b_n = e_n+f_{n+1} - f_n\) such that \(\sum_{n=1}^\infty {| c_n| +| e_n| +| d_n| ^2+| f_n| ^2}<\infty\), the Szegő condition \[ {{1}\over{2\pi}} \int_{-2}^2 \log \biggl( {{\sqrt{4-E^2}}\over{2\pi {{d\nu_{ac}}\over {dE}}}} \biggr) {{dE}\over{\sqrt{4-E^2}}} < \infty \] holds (here \(\nu\) is the spectral measure for \(J\) and the vector \(\delta_1\)). For Jacobi matrices with \(a_n =1+(-1)^n\alpha n^{-\gamma}\) and \(b_n=(-1)^n \beta n^{-\gamma}\), the above result gives a new proof of Nevai's result that if \(\gamma >{1 \over 2}\), the Szegő condition holds, which works also if one replaces \((-1)^n\) by \(\cos (\mu n)\). It is shown that if \(\alpha =0\), \(\beta\neq 0\), and \(\gamma <{1 \over 2}\), the Szegő condition fails. If \(\gamma =1\), \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\) are small enough (\(\beta^2 + 8 \alpha^2 < {1 \over 24}\) will do), then the Jacobi matrix has finitely many bound states (for \(\alpha =0\), \(\beta\) large, it has infinitely many). For a continuous Schrödinger operator with long-range oscillatory potential \(\lambda V\), the growth of the number of bound states \(N(\lambda V)\) as \(\lambda\to\infty\) is investigated.