Decay Bounds on Eigenfunctions and the Singular Spectrum of Unbounded Jacobi Matrices

Bounds on the exponential decay of generalized eigenfunctionsof bounded and unbounded selfadjoint Jacobi matrices in are established. Two cases are considered separatelyand lead to different results: (i) the case in which the spectralparameter lies in a general gap of the spectrum of the Jacobimatrix and (ii) the case of a lower semibounded Jacobi matrixwith values of the spectral parameter below the spectrum. Itis demonstrated by examples that both results are sharp. Weapply these results to obtain a "many barriers-type" criterionfor the existence of square-summable generalized eigenfunctionsof an unbounded Jacobi matrix at almost every value of the spectralparameter in suitable open sets. In particular, this leads toexamples of unbounded Jacobi matrices with a spectral mobilityedge, i.e., a transition from purely absolutely continuous spectrumto dense pure point spectrum.