Quantum walks with an anisotropic coin. I: Spectral theory (Q1696030)

Let \(\mathcal H\) be the Hilbert space of square-summable \({\mathbb C}^2\)-valued sequences \[ {\mathcal H}:=\ell^2({\mathbb Z},{\mathbb C}^2)=\left\{\Psi:{\mathbb Z}\to{\mathbb C}^2\mid\sum_{x\in{\mathbb Z}}\|\Psi(x)\|_2^2<\infty\right\}, \] where \(\|\cdot\|_2\) is the usual norm on \({\mathbb C}^2\). The evolution operator of the one-dimensional quantum walk in \({\mathcal H}\) is defined by \(U:=SC\), with \(S\) a shift operator and \(C\) a coin operator defined as follows. The operator \(S\) is given by \[ (S\Psi)(x) :=\begin{pmatrix} \Psi^{(0)}(x+1)\\ \Psi^{(1)}(x-1) \end{pmatrix}, \quad \Psi =\begin{pmatrix} \Psi^{(0)}\\ \Psi^{(1)} \end{pmatrix}\in{\mathcal H},~x\in{\mathbb Z}, \] and the operator \(C\) is given by \[ (C\Psi)(x):=C(x)\Psi(x),\quad \Psi\in{\mathcal H},~x\in{\mathbb Z},~C(x)\in{\mathbf U}(2). \] The authors assume that a \textit{coin operator} \(C\) exhibiting an anisotropic behaviour at infinity has short-range convergence to the asymptotics. This quantum walks includes one-defect models, two-phase quantum walks, and topological phase quantum walks as special cases. The authors determine the essential spectrum of \(U\), show the existence of locally \(U\)-smooth operators, prove the discreteness of the eigenvalues of \(U\) outside the thresholds, and prove the absence of singular continuous spectrum for \(U\). The proofs are based on new commutator methods for unitary operators in a two-Hilbert spaces setting, which are of independent interest.