Spectral properties of grain boundaries at small angles of rotation (Q2275591)

Summary: We study some spectral properties of a simple two-dimensional model for small angle defects in crystals and alloys. Starting from a periodic potential \(V:\mathbb R^2\to \mathbb R\), we let \(V_\vartheta(x,y)= V(x,y)\) in the right half-plane \(\{x\geq 0\}\) and \(V_\vartheta= V\circ M_{-\vartheta}\) in the left half-plane \(\{x<0\}\), where \(M_\vartheta\in \mathbb R^{2 \times 2}\) is the usual matrix describing rotation of the coordinates in \(\mathbb R^2\) by an angle \(\vartheta\). As a main result, it is shown that spectral gaps of the periodic Schrödinger operator \(H_0=-\Delta+V\) fill with spectrum of \(R_\vartheta=-\Delta+ V_\vartheta\) as \(0\neq \vartheta\to 0\). Moreover, we obtain upper and lower bounds for a quantity pertaining to an integrated density of states measure for the surface states.