Ergodic potentials with a discontinuous sampling function are non-deterministic (Q2388307)

This paper studies discrete, one-dimensional, quasi-periodic Schrödinger operators \(H_\omega\) with ergodic potentials of the following type: \(V_\omega(n)= f(T^n(\omega))\), where \(T\) is an ergodic transformation acting in a space \(\Omega\) and \(f: \Omega \rightarrow \mathbb R\). In Theorem 1, they prove that this operator has no absolutely continuous spectrum for all \(\omega \in [0,1)\), provided that \(f\) has a single, non-removable discontinuity. This result settles a conjecture of Aubry and Jitomirskaya-Mandel'shtam. In Theorem 2, they prove a more general result, namely, that if there is an \(\omega_0 \in \Omega\) such that \(f\) is essentially discontinuous at \(\omega_0\) but continuous at all points \(T^n\omega_0\), \(n < 0\), then \(H_\omega\) has no absolutely continuous spectrum for almost every \(\omega\). An important role in the proofs is played by a theorem of Kotani which shows that non-deterministic potentials give rise to operators that have no absolutely continuous spectrum.