Spectral gaps of almost Mathieu operators in the exponential regime (Q2344486)

Summary: For an almost Mathieu operator $(H_{\lambda,\alpha,\theta}u)_n=u_{n+1}+u_{n-1}+2\lambda \cos2\pi(\theta+n\alpha)u_n$, the dry version of the Ten Martini problem predicts that the spectrum $\Sigma_{\lambda,\alpha}$ of $ H_{\lambda,\alpha,\theta}$ has all gaps open for all $\lambda\neq 0$ and $ \alpha \in \mathbb{R}\backslash \mathbb{Q}$. \textit{A. Avila} and \textit{S. Jitomirskaya} [J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 12, No.~1, 93--131 (2010; Zbl 1185.47028)] proved that $\Sigma_{\lambda,\alpha}$ has all gaps open for Diophantine $\alpha$ and $0<|\lambda|<1$. In the present paper, we show that $\Sigma_{\lambda,\alpha}$ has all gaps open for all $ \alpha \in \mathbb{R}\backslash \mathbb{Q}$ with small $\lambda$.