We summarize (and comment on) the research program carried out in (CMP 319, 501 (2013)), (CMP 338, 347 (2015)), (CMP 344, 959 (2016), (LMP 106, 787 (2016)). This program is devoted to the characterization of the absolutely continuous spectrum of a self-adjoint operator H in terms of the transport properties of a suitable class of open quantum systems canonically associated to H.
We characterize the absolutely continuous spectrum of half-line one-dimensional Schrödinger operators in terms of the limiting behavior of the Crystaline Landauer-Büttiker conductance of the associated finite samples.
The presence of chiral modes on the edges of quantum Hall samples is essential to our understanding of the quantum Hall effect. In particular, these edge modes should support ballistic transport and therefore, in a single particle picture, be supported in the absolutely continuous spectrum of the single-particle Hamiltonian. We show in this note that if a free fermion system on the two-dimensional lattice is gapped in the bulk, and has a nonvanishing Hall conductance, then the same system put on a half-space geometry supports edge modes whose spectrum fills the entire bulk gap and is absolutel…
We characterize the absolutely continuous spectrum of the one-dimensional Schrödinger operators $h=-Δ+v$ acting on $\ell^2(\mathbb{Z}_+)$ in terms of the limiting behavior of the Landauer-Büttiker and Thouless conductances of the associated finite samples. The finite sample is defined by restricting $h$ to a finite interval $[1,L]\cap\mathbb{Z}_+$ and the conductance refers to the charge current across the sample in the open quantum system obtained by attaching independent electronic reservoirs to the sample ends. Our main result is that the conductances associated to an energy interval $I$ ar…
The justification of the absolutely continuous spectrum eigenfunctions asymptotics in the problem of three one-Dimensional short-range quantum particles with repulsion has been done.
Modifying Rudin's original construction of the Rudin-Shapiro sequence, we derive a new substitution-based sequence with purely absolutely continuous diffraction spectrum.
We prove an averaging formula for the derivative of the absolutely continuous part of the density of states measure for an ergodic family of CMV matrices. As a consequence, we show that the spectral type of such a family is almost surely purely absolutely continuous if and only if the density of states is absolutely continuous and the Lyapunov exponent vanishes almost everywhere with respect to the same. Both of these results are CMV operator analogues of theorems obtained by Kotani for Schrödinger operators.
For a bounded real-valued function $V$ on ${\Bbb R}^d$, we consider two Schrödinger operators $H_+=-Δ+V$ and $H_-=-Δ-V$. We prove that if the negative spectra $H_+$ and $H_-$ are discrete and the negative eigenvalues of $H_+$ and $H_-$ tend to zero sufficiently fast, then the absolutely continuous spectra cover the positive half-line $[0,\infty)$.
By generalising Rudin's construction of an aperiodic sequence, we derive new substitution-based structures which have purely absolutely continuous diffraction and mixed dynamical spectrum, with absolutely continuous and pure point parts. We discuss several examples, including a construction based on Fourier matrices which yields constant-length substitutions for any length.
We consider a family of random Schrödinger operators on the discrete strip with decaying random $\ell^2$ matrix potential. We prove that the spectrum is almost surely pure absolutely continuous, apart from random, possibly embedded eigenvalues, which may accumulate at band edges.
We investigate absolutely continuous spectrum of generalized indefinite strings. By following an approach of Deift and Killip, we establish stability of the absolutely continuous spectra of two model examples of generalized indefinite strings under rather wide perturbations. In particular, one of these results allows us to prove that the absolutely continuous spectrum of the isospectral problem associated with the conservative Camassa-Holm flow in the dispersive regime is essentially supported on the interval $[1/4,\infty)$.
Preservation of the absolutely continuous spectrum of Schrödinger equation under perturbations by slowly decreasing potentials and a.e. convergence of integral operators
We disprove a conjecture of Breuer-Last-Simon concerning the absolutely continuous spectrum of Jacobi matrices with coefficients that obey an $\ell^2$ bounded variation condition with step $q$. We prove existence of a.c. spectrum on a smaller set than that specified by the conjecture and prove that our result is optimal.
We continue to investigate absolutely continuous spectrum of generalized indefinite strings. By following an approach of Deift and Killip, we establish stability of the absolutely continuous spectra of two more model examples of generalized indefinite strings under rather wide perturbations. In particular, one of these results allows us to prove that the absolutely continuous spectrum of the isospectral problem associated with the two-component Camassa-Holm system in a certain dispersive regime is essentially supported on the set $(-\infty,-1/2]\cup [1/2,\infty)$.
We show that a generic quasi-periodic Schrödinger operator in $L^2(\mathbb{R})$ has purely singular spectrum. That is, for any minimal translation flow on a finite-dimensional torus, there is a residual set of continuous sampling functions such that for each of these sampling functions, the Schrödinger operator with the resulting potential has empty absolutely continuous spectrum.
On an infinite, radial metric tree graph we consider the corresponding Laplacian equipped with self-adjoint vertex conditions from a large class including $δ$- and weighted $δ'$-couplings. Assuming the numbers of different edge lengths, branching numbers and different coupling conditions to be finite, we prove that the presence of absolutely continuous spectrum implies that the sequence of geometric data of the tree as well as the coupling conditions are eventually periodic. On the other hand, we provide examples of self-adjoint, non-periodic couplings which admit absolutely continuous spectru…
We will consider cross products of finite graphs with a class of trees that have arbitrarily but finitely long line segments, such as the Fibonacci tree. Such cross products are called tree-strips. We prove that for small disorder random Schrödinger operators on such tree-strips have purely absolutely continuous spectrum in a certain set.
Quasiperiodic tilings are often considered as structure models of quasicrystals. In this context, it is important to study the nature of the diffraction measures for tilings. In this article, we investigate the diffraction measures for S-adic tilings in R^d, which are constructed from a family of geometric substitution rules. In particular, we firstly give a sufficient condition for the absolutely continuous component of the diffraction measure for an S-adic tiling to be zero. Next, we prove this sufficient condition for "almost all" binary block-substitution cases and thus prove the absence o…
We prove for the square Fibonacci Hamiltonian that the density of states measure is absolutely continuous for almost all pairs of small coupling constants. This is obtained from a new result we establish about the absolute continuity of convolutions of measures arising in hyperbolic dynamics with exact-dimensional measures.
We study the spectra of quantum trees of finite cone type. These are quantum graphs whose geometry has a certain homogeneity, and which carry a finite set of edge lengths, coupling constants and potentials on the edges. We show the spectrum consists of bands of purely absolutely continuous spectrum, along with a discrete set of eigenvalues. Afterwards, we study random perturbations of such trees, at the level of edge length and coupling, and prove the stability of pure AC spectrum, along with resolvent estimates.
We consider the discrete Schrödinger operator $H=-Δ+V$ with a sparse potential $V$ and find conditions guaranteeing either existence of wave operators for the pair $H$ and $H_0=-Δ$, or presence of dense purely point spectrum of the operator $H$ on some interval $[λ_0,0]$ with $λ_0<0$.