A directional compactification of the complex Bloch variety (Q757651)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a lattice in \({\mathbb{R}}^ 2\). The complex Bloch variety B(q) for \(q\in L^ 2({\mathbb{R}}^ 2/\Gamma)\) is the set of all points \((k,\lambda)\in {\mathbb{C}}^ 2\times {\mathbb{C}}\) such that there is a nontrivial function \(\psi \in H^ 2_{loc}({\mathbb{R}}^ 2)\) satisfying \((-\Delta +q)\psi =\lambda \psi\) and \(\psi (x+\gamma)=e^{i<k,\gamma >}\psi (x)\) for all \(\gamma\in \Gamma.\) The Bloch variety is proved to be a transcendental complex analytic hypersurface in \({\mathbb{C}}^ 2\times {\mathbb{C}}\), and its irreducible components are translates of each other by elements of the dual lattice \(\Gamma^{\#}=\{b\in {\mathbb{R}}^ 2:\) \(<\gamma,b>\in 2\pi {\mathbb{Z}}\}\). The main part of the paper is the construction of a directional compactification \((q)^{\sim}\) of B(q). The points to be adjoined to B(q) lie in the exceptional planes and it is only possible to approach them along B(q) through a special family of cones. The structure of the divisor \((q)^{\sim}-B(q)\) ``at infinity'' is under consideration.