Norm estimates of almost Mathieu operators (Q1766550)

The discrete Schrödinger operator \[ H(\theta, \lambda, \phi) \xi_n = \xi_{n+1}+\xi_{n-1}+\lambda\cos 2\pi (n\theta + \phi) \xi_n, \] which acts on the Hilbert space \(\ell^2 = \ell^2({\mathbb Z})\) with the canonical orthonormal basis \((\xi_n)_n\), is called an almost Mathieu operator, where \(\theta,\, \lambda\) and \(\phi\) are real numbers. This operator can be regarded as the image of the selfadjoint element \(H_{\theta,\lambda} := U + U^* + (\lambda/2)(V + V^*)\) in the representation of the rotation \(C^*\)-algebra \(A_{\theta} = C^*(U,\, V\,\) unitaries: \(UV = e^{2\pi i \theta}VU)\) which maps \(U\) to the bilateral shift \(u_0\) defined on \(\ell^2\) by \(u_0 \xi_n = \xi_{n-1}\), and \(V\) to the diagonal unitary \(v_0\) defined by \(v_0 \xi_n = e^{2\pi i(n\theta+\phi)}\xi_n\). The operator \(H_{\theta} \equiv H_{\theta,2}\) is called a Harper operator. The main result of the paper under review is to estimate the norm of \(H_{\theta,\lambda}\) for every \(\lambda \in {\mathbb R}\) and \(\theta \in [\frac14, \frac12]\) as the inequality \[ \| H_{\theta,\lambda}\| \leq \sqrt{4+\lambda^2 -\Big(1-\frac{1}{\tan \pi\theta}\Big) \biggl(1-\sqrt{\frac{1+\cos^2 4\pi\theta}{2}}\biggr)\min \{4,\lambda^2\}}. \] This result is improving the inequality \(\| H_{\theta,2}\| \leq 2\sqrt{2}\) for \(\lambda =2, \, \theta \in [\frac14, \frac12]\), which was conjectured by \textit{C. Béguin, A. Valette} and \textit{A. Zuk} [J. Geom. Phys. 21, 337--356 (1997; Zbl 0871.60053)].