Gap Labelling for Discrete One-Dimensional Ergodic Schr\"odinger Operators

Abstract

In this survey, we give an introduction to and proof of the gap labelling theorem for discrete one-dimensional ergodic Schr\"odinger operators via the Schwartzman homomorphism. To keep the paper relatively self-contained, we include background on the integrated density of states, the oscillation theorem for 1D operators, and the construction of the Schwartzman homomorphism. We illustrate the result with some examples. In particular, we show how to use the Schwartzman formalism to recover the classical gap-labelling theorem for almost-periodic potentials. We also consider operators generated by subshifts and operators generated by affine homeomorphisms of finite-dimensional tori. In the latter case, one can use the gap-labelling theorem to show that the spectrum associated with potentials generated by suitable transformations (such as Arnold's cat map) is an interval.