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David Damanik

Publications and source records attributed to David Damanik.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Stability of Spectral Types of Quasi-Periodic Schrödinger Operators With Respect to Perturbations by Decaying Potentials

We consider perturbations of quasi-periodic Schrödinger operators on the integer lattice with analytic sampling functions by decaying potentials and seek decay conditions under which various spectral properties are preserved. In the (almost) reducibility regime we prove that for perturbations with finite first moment, the essential spectrum remains purely absolutely continuous and the newly created discrete spectrum must be finite in each gap of the unperturbed spectrum. We also prove that for fixed phase, Anderson localization occurring for almost all frequencies in the regime of positive Lyapunov exponents is preserved under exponentially decaying perturbations.

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Thin Spectra and Singular Continuous Spectral Measures for Limit-Periodic Jacobi Matrices

This paper investigates the spectral properties of Jacobi matrices with limit-periodic coefficients. We show that for a residual set of such matrices, the spectrum is a Cantor set of zero Lebesgue measure, and the spectral measures are purely singular continuous. For a dense set of limit-periodic Jacobi matrices we can strengthen the result and show that the spectrum is a Cantor set of zero lower box counting dimension, and hence in particular of zero Hausdorff dimension, while still retaining the singular continuity of the spectral type. We also show how results of this nature can be established by fixing the off-diagonal coefficients and varying only the diagonal coefficients, and, in a more restricted version, by fixing the diagonal coefficients to be zero and varying only the off-diagonal coefficients. We apply these results to produce examples of weighted Laplacians on the multidimensional integer lattice having purely singular continuous spectral type and zero-dimensional spectrum.

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Gap Labels for Zeros of the Partition Function of the 1D Ising Model via the Schwartzman Homomorphism

Inspired by the 1995 paper of Baake--Grimm--Pisani, we aim to explain the empirical observation that the distribution of Lee--Yang zeros corresponding to a one-dimensional Ising model appears to follow the gap labelling theorem. This follows by combining two main ingredients: first, the relation between the transfer matrix formalism for 1D Ising model and an ostensibly unrelated matrix formalism generating the Szegő recursion for orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle, and second, the gap labelling theorem for CMV matrices.

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The Spectrum of Schrödinger Operators with Randomly Perturbed Ergodic Potentials

We consider Schrödinger operators in $\ell^2(\mathbb{Z})$ whose potentials are given by the sum of an ergodic term and a random term of Anderson type. Under the assumption that the ergodic term is generated by a homeomorphism of a connected compact metric space and a continuous sampling function, we show that the almost sure spectrum arises in an explicitly described way from the unperturbed spectrum and the topological support of the single-site distribution. In particular, assuming that the latter is compact and contains at least two points, this explicit description of the almost sure spectrum shows that it will always be given by a finite union of non-degenerate compact intervals. The result can be viewed as a far reaching generalization of the well known formula for the spectrum of the classical Anderson model.

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Discontinuities of the Integrated Density of States for Laplacians Associated with Penrose and Ammann-Beenker Tilings

Aperiodic substitution tilings provide popular models for quasicrystals, materials exhibiting aperiodic order. We study the graph Laplacian associated with four tilings from the mutual local derivability class of the Penrose tiling, as well as the Ammann--Beenker tiling. In each case we exhibit locally-supported eigenfunctions, which necessarily cause jump discontinuities in the integrated density of states for these models. By bounding the multiplicities of these locally-supported modes, in several cases we provide concrete lower bounds on this jump. These results suggest a host of questions about spectral properties of the Laplacian on aperiodic tilings, which we collect at the end of the paper.

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Johnson-Schwartzman Gap Labelling for Ergodic Jacobi Matrices

We consider two-sided Jacobi matrices whose coefficients are obtained by continuous sampling along the orbits of a homeomorphim of a compact metric space. Given an ergodic probability measure, we study the topological structure of the associated almost sure spectrum. We establish a gap labelling theorem in the spirit of Johnson and Schwartzman. That is, we show that the constant value the integrated density of states takes in a gap of the spectrum must belong to the countable Schwartzman group of the base dynamics. This result is a natural companion to a recent result of Alkorn and Zhang, which established a Johnson-type theorem for the families of Jacobi matrices in question.

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Uniformity Aspects of $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ Cocycles and Applications to Schrödinger Operators Defined Over Boshernitzan Subshifts

We consider continuous $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ valued cocycles over general dynamical systems and discuss a variety of uniformity notions. In particular, we provide a description of uniform one-parameter families of continuous $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ cocycles as $G_δ$-sets. These results are then applied to Schrödinger operators with dynamically defined potentials. In the case where the base dynamics is given by a subshift satisfying the Boshernitzan condition, we show that for a generic continuous sampling function, the associated Schrödinger cocycles are uniform for all energies and, in the aperiodic case, the spectrum is a Cantor set of zero Lebesgue measure.

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The Almost Sure Essential Spectrum of the Doubling Map Model is Connected

We consider discrete Schrödinger operators on the half line with potentials generated by the doubling map and continuous sampling functions. We show that the essential spectrum of these operators is always connected. This result is obtained by computing the subgroup of the range of the Schwartzman homomorphism associated with homotopy classes of continuous maps on the suspension of the standard solenoid that factor through the suspension of the doubling map and then showing that this subgroup characterizes the topological structure of the spectrum.

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Spectral Characteristics of Schrödinger Operators Generated by Product Systems

We study ergodic Schrödinger operators defined over product dynamical systems in which one factor is periodic and the other factor is either a subshift over a finite alphabet or an irrational rotation of the circle. In the case in which one factor is a Boshernitzan subshift, we prove that either the resulting operators are periodic or the resulting spectra must be Cantor sets. The main ingredient is a suitable stability result for Boshernitzan's criterion under taking products. We also discuss the stability of purely singular continuous spectrum, which, given the zero-measure spectrum result, amounts to stability results for eigenvalue exclusion. In particular, we examine situations in which the existing criteria for the exclusion of eigenvalues are stable under periodic perturbations. As a highlight of this, we show that any simple Toeplitz subshift over a binary alphabet exhibits uniform absence of eigenvalues on the hull for any periodic perturbation whose period is commensurate with the coding sequence. In the case of a full shift, we give an effective criterion to compute exactly the spectrum of a random Anderson model perturbed by a potential of period two, and we further show that the naive generalization of this criterion does not hold for period three. Next, we consider quasi-periodic potentials with potentials generated by trigonometric polynomials with periodic background. We show that the quasiperiodic cocycle induced by passing to blocks of period length is subcritical when the coupling constant is small and supercritical when the coupling constant is large. Thus, the spectral type is absolutely continuous for small coupling and pure point (for a.e.\ frequency and phase) when the coupling is large.

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Gap Labelling for Discrete One-Dimensional Ergodic Schrödinger Operators

In this survey, we give an introduction to and proof of the gap labelling theorem for discrete one-dimensional ergodic Schrödinger 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.

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Subordinacy Theory for Extended CMV Matrices

We develop subordinacy theory for extended CMV matrices. That is, we provide explicit supports for the singular and absolutely continuous parts of the canonical spectral measure associated with a given extended CMV matrix in terms of the presence or absence of subordinate solutions of the generalized eigenvalue equation. Some corollaries and applications of this result are described as well.

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The Quasi-Periodic Cauchy Problem for the Generalized Benjamin-Bona-Mahony Equation on the Real Line

This paper studies the existence and uniqueness problem for the generalized Benjamin-Bona-Mahony (gBBM) equation with quasi-periodic initial data on the real line. We obtain an existence and uniqueness result in the classical sense with arbitrary time horizon under the assumption of polynomially decaying initial Fourier data by using the combinatorial analysis method developed in earlier papers by Christ, Damanik-Goldstein, and the present authors. Our result is valid for exponentially decaying initial Fourier data and hence can be viewed as a Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem for the gBBM equation with quasi-periodic initial data.

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Cantor Spectrum for CMV Matrices With Almost Periodic Verblunsky Coefficients

We consider extended CMV matrices with analytic quasi-periodic Verblunsky coefficients with Diophantine frequency vector in the perturbatively small coupling constant regime and prove the analyticity of the tongue boundaries. As a consequence we establish that, generically, all gaps of the spectrum that are allowed by the Gap Labelling Theorem are open and hence the spectrum is a Cantor set. We also prove these results for a related class of almost periodic Verblunsky coefficients and present an application to suitable quantum walk models on the integer lattice.

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Must the Spectrum of a Random Schrödinger Operator Contain an Interval?

We consider Schrödinger operators in $\ell^2(\mathbb{Z})$ whose potentials are given by independent (not necessarily identically distributed) random variables. We ask whether it is true that almost surely its spectrum contains an interval. We provide an affirmative answer in the case of random potentials given by a sum of a perturbatively small quasi-periodic potential with analytic sampling function and Diophantine frequency vector and a term of Anderson type, given by independent identically distributed random variables. The proof proceeds by extending a result about the presence of ground states for atypical realizations of the classical Anderson model, which we prove here as well and which appears to be new.

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The Deift Conjecture: A Program to Construct a Counterexample

We describe a program to construct a counterexample to the Deift conjecture, that is, an almost periodic function whose evolution under the KdV equation is not almost periodic in time. The approach is based on a dichotomy found by Volberg and Yuditskii in their solution of the Kotani problem, which states that there exists an analytic condition that distinguishes between almost periodic and non-almost periodic reflectionless potentials with resolvent set given by a Widom domain.

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Local Existence and Uniqueness of Spatially Quasi-Periodic Solutions to the Generalized KdV Equation

In this paper, we study the existence and uniqueness of spatially quasi-periodic solutions to the generalized KdV equation (gKdV for short) on the real line with quasi-periodic initial data whose Fourier coefficients are exponentially decaying. In order to solve for the Fourier coefficients of the solution, we first reduce the nonlinear dispersive partial differential equation to a nonlinear infinite system of coupled ordinary differential equations, and then construct the Picard sequence to approximate them. However, we meet, and have to deal with, the difficulty of studying {\bf the higher dimensional discrete convolution operation for several functions}: \[\underbrace{c\times\cdots\times c}_{\mathfrak p~\text{times}}~(\text{total distance}):=\sum_{\substack{\clubsuit_1,\cdots,\clubsuit_{\mathfrak p}\in\mathbb Z^ν\\ \clubsuit_1+\cdots+\clubsuit_{\mathfrak p}=~\text{total distance}}}\prod_{j=1}^{\mathfrak p}c(\clubsuit_j).\] In order to overcome it, we apply a combinatorial method to reformulate the Picard sequence as a tree. Based on this form, we prove that the Picard sequence is exponentially decaying and fundamental ({\color{red}i.e., a} Cauchy sequence). We first give a detailed discussion of the proof of the existence and uniqueness result in the case $\mathfrak p=3$. Next, we prove existence and uniqueness in the general case $\mathfrak p\geq 2$, which then covers the remaining cases $\mathfrak p\geq 4$. As a byproduct, we recover the local result from \cite{damanik16}. We exhibit the most important combinatorial index $σ$ and obtain a relationship with other indices, which is essential to our proofs in the case of general $\mathfrak p$.

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On Simon's Hausdorff Dimension Conjecture

Barry Simon conjectured in 2005 that the Szegő matrices, associated with Verblunsky coefficients $\{α_n\}_{n\in\mathbb{Z}_+}$ obeying $\sum_{n = 0}^\infty n^γ|α_n|^2 < \infty$ for some $γ\in (0,1)$, are bounded for values $z \in \partial \mathbb{D}$ outside a set of Hausdorff dimension no more than $1 - γ$. Three of the authors recently proved this conjecture by employing a Prüfer variable approach that is analogous to work Christian Remling did on Schrödinger operators. This paper is a companion piece that presents a simple proof of a weak version of Simon's conjecture that is in the spirit of a proof of a different conjecture of Simon.

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