Bounds on the spectral shift function and the density of states (Q852380)

The authors study spectral properties of Schrödinger operators of the form \(H=H_A+V=(-i\nabla -A)^2+V\) acting on \(L^2(\mathbb R^d)\), where the magnetic potential \(A\) belongs to \(L^2_{\text{loc}}\), the positive part of the electric potential \(V_+\) is element of \(L^1_{\text{loc}}\) and the negative part \(V_-\) belongs to the Kato class. Let \(H_1\) be a Schrödinger operator of the above type and let \(H_2=H_1 + u\), where the electric potential \(u\) obeys the same assumptions as above and is compactly supported. The authors show that the singular values \((\mu_n)_{n \in \mathbb N}\) of the corresponding semigroup difference \(V_{\text{eff}}=e^{-H_1}-e^{-H_2}\) satisfy \(\mu_n \leq C e^{-c n^{1/d}}\). Here, the constant \(C\) depends on the Kato class norms of \(V_-\) and \(u_-\) and on the diameter of the support of \(u\), whereas the constant \(c\) depends only on the dimension. The same result holds for \(V_{\text{eff}}^l=e^{-H_1^l}-e^{-H_2^l}\), where \(H_k^l\), \(k=1,2\), is the Dirichlet restriction of \(H_k\) to the cube \(\Lambda_l=[-l/2,l/2]^d\). The proof of both results uses lower bounds on the eigenvalues of \(H_k^l\) and the Feynman--Kac--Itô formula. The decay of the singular values is used to proof integral bounds on the spectral shift function \(\xi\) of the pairs \(H_1, H_2\) and \(H_1^l,H_2^l\), respectively. The authors show that \[ \int\limits_{-\infty}^T \int\limits_0^{|\xi(\lambda)|} \left( \exp( t y^{1/d})-1 \right) dy\,d\lambda \leq K_1(t) e^T \] and \[ \int f(\lambda) \xi(\lambda) \, d\lambda \leq K_1 e^b + K_2 \left\{ \log \left( 1 + \| f\|_\infty \right)\right\}^d \| f\|_1, \] where \(b=\sup\text{supp}(f)\) and the constants \(K_1\) and \(K_2\) depend only on \(d\), the diameter of \(\text{supp}(u_+)\), and on the Kato class norms of \(V_-\) and \(u_-\). A random Schrödinger operator \(H_\omega= H_0 +V_\omega\) is called an alloy type model if \(H_0= H_A +V_{\text{per}}\), with a periodic potential \(V_{\text{per}}\) and \(V_\omega(x)= \sum_{k\in\mathbb Z^d}\omega_k u(x-k)\), where the coupling constants \(\omega_k\), \(k \in \mathbb Z^d,\) form a sequence of bounded random variables which are independent and identically distributed with distribution \(\mu\). The single site potential \(u \neq 0\) has compact support. Denote \[ s(\mu,\varepsilon)=\sup\{\mu([E-\varepsilon,E+\varepsilon]):E\in\mathbb R\}, \quad \varepsilon>0. \] Supposing that \(u \geq \kappa \cdot \chi_{\Lambda_1}\), \(\kappa>0\), it is shown that for each \(E_0 \in \mathbb R\) there exists a constant \(C_W\) such that for all \(E \leq E_0\), \(\varepsilon \leq 1/2\), \[ \mathbb E\{ \text{Tr}[ \chi_{[E-\varepsilon,E+\varepsilon]}(H_\omega^l)]\} \leq C_W s(\mu,\varepsilon) \left(\log \frac{1}{\varepsilon}\right)^d |\Lambda_l|. \] Here, \(H_\omega^l\) is the Dirichlet restriction of the alloy type model \(H_\omega\) to \(\Lambda_l\) and \(\mathbb E\) denotes expectation with respect to the product measure \(\bigotimes_{k \in \mathbb Z^d}\mu\). This result is a refinement of a result in [\textit{P.\,Stollmann}, Arch.\ Math.\ 75, No.\,4, 307--311 (2000; Zbl 1068.82523)]. An estimate of the above type is called a Wegner estimate and it is used to show a continuity result for the integrated density of states, which is defined as the limit of the distribution functions \[ N_\omega^l(E)=|\Lambda_l|^{-1}\#\{\text{eigenvalues of } H_\omega^l\text{ not greater than }E\} \] as \(l\) tends to infinity. This limit is almost surely independent of \(\omega\) and it follows that \[ |N(E_1)-N(E_2)| \leq C_I s(\mu,|E_1-E_2|)\left(\log\frac 1{|E_1-E_2|}\right)^d, \] where the constant \(C_I\) may be chosen uniformly for \(E_1\) and \(E_2\) varying in a compact interval \(I\) such that \(|E_1-E_2| \leq 1/2\).