Integrated density of states for the periodic Schrödinger operator in dimension two (Q1766821)

The paper is devoted to study the high energy asymptotics of the density of states \(D(\lambda)\) for the Schrödinger operator on \(L^2(\mathbb{R}^d), d\geq 1\) with a periodic potential \(V\): \(H=-\Delta+V\), here \(V\) is a real-valued function periodic with respect to a d-dimensional lattice \(\Gamma\subset\mathbb{R}^d\). The integrated density of states for this operator is defined by \[ D(\lambda)=\lim_{R\to\infty}\frac{N(\lambda;H_D^{(R)})}{R^d}, \] here \(H_D^{(R)}\) is the restriction of \(H\) to the cube \([0,R]^d\) with the Dirichlet boundary conditions, and \(N(\lambda;\cdot)\) is the counting function of the discrete spectrum of \(H_D^{(R)}\). It is known [\textit{D. Schenk} and \textit{M. Shubin}, Math. USSR, Sb. 56, 473--490 (1987); translation from Mat. Sb., N. Ser. 128(170), No. 4(12), 474--491 (1985; Zbl 0604.34015)] that for \(d=1\) the integrated density of states admits a complete asymptotic expansion in the powers of \(\lambda^{-1}\) as \(\lambda\to\infty\). The considered paper deals with \(d=2\). Namely, the main result is the following Theorem. Let \(d=2\). Assume that \(V\in C^\infty(\mathbb{R}^d)\) is \(\Gamma\)-periodic and that \(\hat V(0)=0\). Then there is a number \(\lambda_0=\lambda_0(V)>0\) such that \[ D(\lambda)=\frac{1}{4\pi}\lambda+O_\delta(\lambda^{-\frac{6}{5}+\delta}), \;\forall \delta>0 \] for all \(\lambda\geq\lambda_0\). The author uses a variant of so called ''near-similarity'' method [see \textit{G. V. Rozenblyum}, Trans. Mosc. Math. Soc. 36, 57--82 (1979); translation from Tr. Mosk. Mat. O.-va. 36, 59--84 (1978; Zbl 0434.47040)]. The central idea is to reduce the operator \(H\) with the help of a suitable similarity transformation, to an operator with constant coefficients.