Uniform existence of the integrated density of states for random Schrödinger operators on metric graphs over \(\mathbb Z^d\) (Q2466518)

The existence of the integrated density of states is proved for a class of Schrödinger operators on a metric graph \(G_d\) over \(\mathbb Z^d\) with random potentials and random boundary conditions. The metric graph \(G_d\) is the graph whose vertex set is \(\mathbb Z^d\) and its edges are the segments \(\{x+te_{i}\); \(t\in (0,1)\}\), \(x\in \mathbb Z^d\), \(i\in \{1,\dots,d\}\). The topology on \(G_d\) is induced by the usual topology of \(\mathbb R^d\). The Schrödinger operators \(H_\omega\) act in \(\oplus\{L^2(e)\); \(e\in E_d\}\), where \(E_d\) is the set of all edges of the graph and these operators are defined by the formula \((H_\omega f)(e)=-f_{e}^{\prime\prime} +V(\omega)_e f_e\), \(\forall e\in E_d\), \(\forall f \in D(H_\omega)=\{f \in W^{2,2}(E_{d})\); \((f(x), f'(x)) \in L(\omega)(x)\), \(\forall x\in V_{d}\}\). Here \(\omega\) is the current point in a probability space \((\Omega, \mathbb P)\) on which a group \(\Gamma\) (the group of translations or the full group of automorphisms of \(G_{d}\)) acts ergodically, \(W^{2,2}(E_{d})\) is the standard Sobolev space, \(L\) is a random single vertex boundary condition taking values in a finite set (i.e. \(L(\omega)(x)\) is a \(2d\)-dimensional subspace of \(\mathbb C^{4d}\), and \(L\) is invariant to the group action) and \(V\) is a random potential also invariant to the group action, taking values \(V(\omega)_{e}\) in a finite set of \(L^{\infty}(0,1)\). The authors prove that for every van Hove sequence \((Q_{l})_{l \in \mathbb N}\) of finite subsets of \(\mathbb Z^{d}\) the normalized distribution function of the eigenvalues of the restriction of \(H_{\omega}\) to the finite subgraph whose vertex set is \(Q_{l}\), converges uniformly for almost all \(\omega \in \Omega\) to a limit which does not depend on the van Hove sequence and which is the integrated density of states of \(H_{\omega}\). The limit can be expressed by a Shubin-Pastur type trace formula and its points of discontinuity are the points \(\lambda \in \mathbb R\) such that there exists almost surely a compact supported \(L^{2}\)-eigenfunction \(f_{\omega}\) of \(H_{\omega}\): \(H_{\omega}f_{\omega}=\lambda f_{\omega}\). The proof is based on an ergodic theorem from \textit{D. Lenz, P. Müller} and \textit{I. Veselić}, ``Uniform existence of the integrated density of states for models on \(\mathbb{Z}^{d}\)'', \url{http:www.arxiv.org/abs/marh-ph/0607063}. This setup is next used to the study of Schrödinger operators with random magnetic fields and of site and edge percolation models.