Some connections between almost periodic and periodic discrete Schrödinger operators with analytic potentials (Q2276077)

The main object under consideration in the paper is a half-line discrete Schrödinger operator \(H_{\alpha,\theta}\), \(\alpha\in\mathbb{R}\), \(0\leq\theta<2\pi\), with the potential \(V_{\alpha,\theta}(n)=f(2\pi\alpha n+\theta)\), where \(f\) is a real, analytic in the strip \(\{|\Im z|\leq\eta\}\), and \(2\pi\)-periodic function. For a rational \(\alpha=p/q\), the operator \(H_{\alpha,\theta}\) is periodic, its essential spectrum \(\sigma(p/q,\theta)\) is the union of at most \(q\) closed intervals. This operator is almost periodic for irrational \(\alpha\)'s, and its spectrum does not depend on \(\theta\). The author discusses the connection between the set \(A(\alpha)\) -- the essential spectrum of the a.c. component of \(H_{\alpha,\theta}\) for irrational \(\alpha\) -- and the spectra \(\sigma(p/q,\theta)\) of the periodic operators corresponding to rational \(p/q\) that are close to \(\alpha\). The author proves a weak form of the following conjecture: \[ A(\alpha)=\lim_{p/q\to\alpha} S_-(p/q), \qquad S_-(p/q):=\bigcap_\theta \sigma(p/q,\theta), \] modulo sets of Lebesgue measure zero. An estimate for the average measure of \(\sigma(p/q,\theta)\) in terms of the Lyapunov exponent is obtained.