On the structure of band edges of \(2\)-dimensional periodic elliptic operators (Q1623213)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a lattice in \({\mathbb R}^2\) and \(\Omega\subset {\mathbb R}^2\) be an elementary cell of \(\Gamma\). The authors consider the periodic magnetic Schrödinger operator with metric \(g\) \[ (Hu)(x)=(-i\nabla -A(x))^{*}g(x)(-i\nabla -A(x))u(x)+V(x)u(x), \] where the electric potential \(L^\infty \ni V: {\mathbb R}^2\to {\mathbb R}\) and the magnetic potential \(C^1(\Omega) \ni A:{\mathbb R}^2\to {\mathbb R}^2\) are \(\Gamma\)-periodic. The metric \(g\) is a \(\Gamma\)-periodic symmetric \((2\times 2)\)-matrix function and \(C^2\ni g\geq \mathrm{const}_g I>0\). From the standard Floquet-Bloch theory, it follows that \(H\) is unitarily equivalent to the direct integral \[ \int\limits_{\widetilde{\Omega}}^{\oplus} H(k)\,dk, \] where \({\widetilde{\Omega}}\) is an elementary cell of the dual lattice and the operators \(H(k)\) in \(L^2(\Omega)\) are defined by \[ H(k)=(-i\nabla+\overline{k}-A)^*g(-i\nabla+k-A)+V,\quad k\in {\mathbb C}^2. \] The spectrum \( \sigma(H)=\bigcup_j [\lambda_j^-,\lambda_j^+] \) of the operator \(H\) is the union of the \textit{spectral bands} \([\lambda_j^-,\lambda_j^+]\), which are the ranges of \(\lambda_j(\cdot)\). The main result of the paper under review is the following. Let \(\lambda_*\) be a global minimal or maximal value of \(\lambda_j(\cdot)\). Then the level set \[ \{k\in \widetilde{\Omega}:\lambda_j(k)=\lambda_*\} \] is finite. An immediate consequence of this result is that Liouville type theorems (the space of solutions of any given polynomial growth is finite dimensional) hold for the operator \(H\) at all gap edges. The statement of the main result fails for discrete periodic Schrödinger operators in \(\ell^2\left({\mathbb Z}^2\right)\) (the corresponding example is presented).