Spectral theory for a class of periodically perturbed unbounded Jacobi matrices: Elementary methods (Q596247)

Jacobi matrices \(J\) acting in \(l^2({\mathbb N})\) according to the formula \((Ju)(n)=\lambda_{n-1}u(n-1)+ \lambda_nu(n+1)\), \(n \geq 1\) with the condition \(u(0)=0\) are studied. Considering the case of weights \(\lambda_n=n^\alpha + c_n\), \(\alpha > 0\), where \(c_n\) is a periodic sequence of real numbers such that \(\lambda_n > 0\) for all \(n\), the elementary methods are used to give a characterization of spectral properties of unbounded Jacobi matrices with a spectral gap. The case of \(T = 2\) (\(T\) being the minimal period of \(c_n\)) is treated separately for \(\alpha \in (0,1)\). For a general period \(T\) (odd or even parity of \(T\)) the results are given for \(\alpha \in (\frac{1}{2}, 1]\). The elementary methods used here include the variational principle and the so-called grouping in blocks approach combined with the discrete version of the Levinson theorem (with \(l^1\) perturbation) which allows to find asymptotics of generalized eigenvectors of \(J\) at infinity. It is shown that spectral properties of \(J\) depend crucially on the parity \(T\).