Dimension of the spectrum of one-dimensional discrete Schrödinger operators with Sturmian potentials (Q2465788)

The authors consider the one-dimensional discrete Schrödinger operator \[ (H u) (n) = u (n + 1) + u (n - 1) + V (n) u (n), \quad n \in \mathbb{Z}, \] acting on \(l^{2} (\mathbb{Z})\) with a real potential \(V\) given by \[ V (n) = \lambda \chi_{[1 - \beta,1]}\,(n \beta + \theta \mod 1), \] where \(\lambda > 0\) is the coupling constant, \(\theta \in [0,1)\) the phase, and \(\beta\) (the frequency) being a positive irrational number whose continued fraction expansion is \([0; a_{1},a_{2},\dots]\). The authors give a direct proof of the following asymptotic property result: \[ \lim_{\lambda \longrightarrow \infty} (\log \lambda) \dim_{\beta} \Sigma_{\beta,\lambda} = \log (1 + \sqrt{2}), \] where \(\Sigma_{\beta,\lambda}\) denotes the spectrum of \(H\), and extend it to the case of any Sturm potential associated with an irrational frequency whose continued fraction expansion has bounded partial quotients. Then they show that the Hausdorff dimension and upper box dimension of the spectrum are different in general.