Approximating Spectral Invariants of Harper Operators on Graphs

We study Harper operators and the closely related discrete magnetic Laplacians (DML) on a graph with a free action of a discrete group, as defined by Sunada (Sun). A main result in this paper is that the spectral density function of DMLs associated to rational weight functions on graphs with a free action of an amenable discrete group can be approximated by the average spectral density function of the DMLs on a regular exhaustion, with either Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions. This then gives a criterion for the existence of gaps in the spectrum of the DML, as well as other interesting spectral properties of such DMLs. The technique used incorporates some results of algebraic number theory.     

A Banach space-valued ergodic theorem and the uniform approximation of the integrated density of states

In this paper we consider bounded operators on infinite graphs, in particular Cayley graphs of amenable groups. The operators satisfy an equivariance condition which is formulated in terms of a colouring of the vertex set of the underlying graph. In this setting it is natural to expect that the integrated density of states (IDS), or spectral distribution function, exists. We show that it can be defined as the uniform limit of approximants associated to finite matrices. The proof is based on a Banach space valued ergodic theorem which even allows explicit convergence estimates. Our result applies to a variety of group structures and colouring types, in particular to periodic operators and percolation-type Hamiltonians.     

Spectral properties of the Laplacian on bond-percolation graphs

Bond-percolation graphs are random subgraphs of the d-dimensional integer lattice generated by a standard bond-percolation process. The associated graph Laplacians, subject to Dirichlet or Neumann conditions at cluster boundaries, represent bounded, self-adjoint, ergodic random operators with off-diagonal disorder. They possess almost surely the non-random spectrum [0, 4d] and a self-averaging integrated density of states. The integrated density of states is shown to exhibit Lifshits tails at both spectral edges in the non-percolating phase. While the characteristic exponent of the Lifshits tail for the Dirichlet (Neumann) Laplacian at the lower (upper) spectral edge equals d/2, and thus depends on the spatial dimension, this is not the case at the upper (lower) spectral edge,where the exponent equals 1/2.     

The uniqueness of the integrated density of states for the Schrödinger operators with magnetic fields

The integrated density of states (IDS) for the Schr?dinger operators is defined in two ways: by using the counting function of eigenvalues of the operator restricted to bounded regions with appropriate boundary conditions or by using the spectral projection of the whole space operator. A sufficient condition for the coincidence of the two definitions above is given. Moreover, a sufficient condition for the coincidence of the IDS for the Dirichlet boundary conditions and the IDS for the Neumann boundary conditions is given. The proof is based only on the fundamental items in functional analysis, such as the min-max principle, etc. Received August 26, 1999; in final form February 21, 2000 / Published online February 5, 2001     

群在von Neumann代数上作用的自由和遍历性注记

本文研究了群在von Neumann代数上作用的自由性和遍历性问题.利用投影和群SL2(R)的Iwasawa分解,得到了可数离散群在交换von Neumann代数上作用的自由性的等价刻画,证明了SL2(R)在上半平面H上有理作用导出的SL2(R)在极大交换von Neumann代数A={Mf:f∈L2(H,dxdy/y2)}上的作用α是遍历的,但不是自由的.     

Spectral Convergence of Quasi-One-Dimensional Spaces

We consider a family of non-compact manifolds X_ε (“graph-like manifolds”) approaching a metric graph X₀ and establish convergence results of the related natural operators, namely the (Neumann) Laplacian and the generalized Neumann (Kirchhoff) Laplacian on the metric graph. In particular, we show the norm convergence of the resolvents, spectral projections and eigenfunctions. As a consequence, the essential and the discrete spectrum converge as well. Neither the manifolds nor the metric graph need to be compact, we only need some natural uniformity assumptions. We provide examples of manifolds having spectral gaps in the essential spectrum, discrete eigenvalues in the gaps or even manifolds approaching a fractal spectrum. The convergence results will be given in a completely abstract setting dealing with operators acting in different spaces, applicable also in other geometric situations. Communicated by Claude Alain Pillet Submitted: December 21, 2005 Accepted: January 30, 2006     

The Integrated Density of States for Some Random Operators with Nonsign Definite Potentials

We study the integrated density of states of random Anderson-type additive and multiplicative perturbations of deterministic background operators for which the single-site potential does not have a fixed sign. Our main result states that, under a suitable assumption on the regularity of the random variables, the integrated density of states of such random operators is locally Hölder continuous at energies below the bottom of the essential spectrum of the background operator for any nonzero disorder, and at energies in the unperturbed spectral gaps, provided the randomness is sufficiently small. The result is based on a proof of a Wegner estimate with the correct volume dependence. The proof relies upon the L^p-theory of the spectral shift function for p?1 (Comm. Math. Phys.218 (2001), 113-130), and the vector field methods of Klopp (Comm. Math. Phys.167 (1995), 553-569). We discuss the application of this result to Schrödinger operators with random magnetic fields and to band-edge localization.     

On mean-square-stable bilinear systems

It has been shown in a previous paper that an infinite-dimensionalstochastic discrete bilinear system is mean-square-stable ifand only if the spectral radii of two transformations of Hilbert-spaceoperators are both less than one. The present paper investigatesconditions to be imposed on the model operators in order toensure that such spectral radii coincide. Several examples arepresented and the main result establishes the spectral radiusidentity for models with compact operators.     

Operator Algebraic Quotient Structures Induced by Directed Graphs

Our result is about inclusions for (finite or infinite) countable directed graphs. In the proof, we use Free Probability Theory, groupoids, and algebras of operators (von Neumann algebras). We show that inclusions of directed graphs induce quotients for associated groupoid actions. With the use of operator thechniques, we then establish a duality between inclusions of graphs on the one hand and quotients of algebras on the other. Our main result is that each connected graph induces a quotient generated by a free group. This is a generalization of the notion of induced representations in the context of unitary representations of groups, i.e., the induction from the representations of a subgroup of an ambient group. The analogue is to systems of imprimitivity based on the homogeneous space. The parallel of this is the more general context of graphs (extending from groups to groupoids): We first prove that inclusions for connected graphs correspond to free group quotients, and we then build up the general case via connected components of given graphs.     

Some topics in the dynamics of group actions on rooted trees

This article combines the features of a survey and a research paper. It presents a review of some results obtained during the last decade in problems related to the dynamics of branch and self-similar groups on the boundary of a spherically homogeneous rooted tree and to the combinatorics and asymptotic properties of Schreier graphs associated with a group or with its action. Special emphasis is placed on the study of essentially free actions of selfsimilar groups, which are antipodes to branch actions. At the same time, the theme “free versus nonfree” runs through the paper. Sufficient conditions are obtained for the essential freeness of an action of a self-similar group on the boundary of a tree. Specific examples of such actions are given. Constructions of the associated dynamical system and the Schreier dynamical system generated by a Schreier graph are presented. For groups acting on trees, a trace on the associated C*-algebra generated by a Koopman representation is introduced, and its role in the study of von Neumann factors, the spectral properties of groups, Schreier graphs, and elements of the associated C*-algebra is demonstrated. The concepts of asymptotic expander and asymptotic Ramanujan graph are introduced, and examples of such graphs are given. Questions related to the notion of the cost of action and the notion of rank gradient are discussed.     

On the Lipschitz continuity of the integrated density of states for sign-indefinite potentials

The present paper is devoted to the study of spectral properties of random Schrödinger operators. Using a finite section method for Toeplitz matrices, we prove a Wegner estimate for some alloy type models where the single site potential is allowed to change sign. The results apply to the corresponding discrete model, too. In certain disorder regimes we are able to prove the Lipschitz continuity of the integrated density of states and/or localization near spectral edges.     

Pontrjagin空间上算子集合的两个稠密性定理

Ｋａｐｌａｎｓｋｙ稠密性定理￣［１］是ｖｏｎＮｅｕｍａｎｎ代数和Ｃ￣＊代数理论中一个基本而重要的定理。算子代数中许多深刻的结果都是以此为工具导出的。要在不定度规空间上探讨算子代数的性质，人们自然会关心在这类空间上是否存在同一类型的结果。本文的主要目的就是在Ｐｏｎｔｒｊａｇｉｎ空间上给出一个相应的稠密性定理。同时，我们还将给出关于完全正则自共轭算子的另一个稠密性的结果。     

Free

It has been conjectured that every free algebraic action of the additive group of complex numbers on complex affine three space is conjugate to a global translation. The main result lends support to this conjecture by showing that the morphism to the variety defined by the ring of invariants of the associated action on the coordinate ring is smooth. As a consequence, the graph morphism is an open immersion, and simple proofs of certain cases of the conjecture are obtained.

     

Quasiconformal mappings and periodic spectral problems in dimension two

We study spectral properties of second-order elliptic operators with periodic coefficients in dimension two. These operators act in periodic simply-connected waveguides, with either Dirichlet, or Neumann, or the third boundary condition. The main result is the absolute continuity of the spectra of such operators. The cornerstone of the proof is an isothermal change of variables, reducing the metric to a flat one and the waveguide to a straight strip. The main technical tool is the quasiconformal variant of the Riemann mapping theorem. This work is supported by The Royal Society.     

Homogenization for nonlinear PDEs in general domains with oscillatory Neumann boundary data

In this article we investigate averaging properties of fully nonlinear PDEs in bounded domains with oscillatory Neumann boundary data. The oscillation is periodic and is present both in the operator and in the Neumann data. Our main result states that, when the domain does not have flat boundary parts and when the homogenized operator is rotation invariant, the solutions uniformly converge to the homogenized solution solving a Neumann boundary problem. Furthermore we show that the homogenized Neumann data is continuous with respect to the normal direction of the boundary. Our result is the nonlinear version of the classical result in [3] for divergence-form operators with co-normal boundary data. The main ingredients in our analysis are the estimate on the oscillation on the solutions in half-spaces (Theorem 3.1), and the estimate on the mode of convergence of the solutions as the normal of the half-space varies over irrational directions (Theorem 4.1).     

Spectral flow is the integral of one forms on the Banach manifold of self adjoint Fredholm operators

One may trace the idea that spectral flow should be given as the integral of a one form back to the 1974 Vancouver ICM address of I.M. Singer. Our main theorem gives analytic formulae for the spectral flow along a norm differentiable path of self adjoint bounded Breuer-Fredholm operators in a semifinite von Neumann algebra. These formulae have a geometric interpretation which derives from the proof. Namely we define a family of Banach submanifolds of all bounded self adjoint Breuer-Fredholm operators and on each submanifold define global one forms whose integral on a norm differentiable path contained in the submanifold calculates the spectral flow along this path. We emphasise that our methods do not give a single globally defined one form on the self adjoint Breuer-Fredholms whose integral along all paths is spectral flow rather, as the choice of the plural ‘forms’ in the title suggests, we need a family of such one forms in order to confirm Singer's idea. The original context for this result concerned paths of unbounded self adjoint Fredholm operators. We therefore prove analogous formulae for spectral flow in the unbounded case as well. The proof is a synthesis of key contributions by previous authors, whom we acknowledge in detail in the introduction, combined with an additional important recent advance in the differential calculus of functions of non-commuting operators.     

Geometric properties of root vectors for equation of nonhomogeneous damped string: transformation operators method

The spectral decomposition theorem for a class of nonselfadjoint operators in a Hilbert space is obtained in the paper. These operators are the dynamics generators for the systems governed by 1–dim hyperbolic equations with spatially nonhomogeneous coefficients containing first order damping terms and subject to linear nonselfadjoint boundary conditions. These equations and boundary conditions describe, in particular, a spatially nonhomogeneous string subject to a distributed viscous damping and also damped at the boundary points. The main result leading to the spectral decomposition is the fact that the generalized eigenvectors (root vectors) of the above operators form Riesz bases in the corresponding energy spaces. The proofs are based on the transformation operators method. The classical concept of transformation operators is extended to the equation of damped string. Originally, this concept was developed by I. M. Gelfand, B. M. Levitan and V. A. Marchenko for 1–dim Schrödinger equation in connection with the inverse scattering problem. In the classical case, the transformation operator maps the exponential function (stationary wave function of the free particle) into the Jost solution of the perturbed Schrödinger equation. For the equation of a nonhomogeneous damped string, it is natural to introduce two transformation operators (outgoing and incoming transformation operators). The terminology is motivated by an analog with the Lax—Phillips scattering theory. The transformation operators method is used to reduce the Riesz bases property problem for the generalized eigenvectors to the similar problem for a system of nonharmonic exponentials whose complex frequencies are precisely the eigenvalues of our operators. The latter problem is solved based on the spectral asymptotics and known facts about exponential families. The main result presented in the paper means that the generator of a finite string with damping both in the equation and in the boundary conditions is a Riesz spectral operator. The latter result provides a class of nontrivial examples of non—selfadjoint operators which admit an analog of the spectral decomposition. The result also has significant applications in the control theory of distributed parameter systems.     

Quasicrystals,aperiodic order,and groupoid von Neumann algebras

We introduce tight binding operators for quasicrystals that are parametrized by Delone sets. These operators can be regarded in a natural operator algebra framework that encodes the long range aperiodic order. This algebraic point of view allows us to study spectral theoretic properties. In particular, the integrated density of states of the tight binding operators is related to a canonical trace on the associated von Neumann algebra. To cite this article: D. Lenz, P. Stollmann, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 334 (2002) 1131–1136.     

Remarks on Nonlinear Neumann Problems in Periodic Domains

We study a semilinear elliptic equation Au = f(x, u) with nonlinear Neumann boundary condition Bu = φ(ξ, u) in an unbounded domain Ω ? ?ⁿ, the boundary of which is defined by periodic functions. We assume that f and φ and the coefficients of the operators are asymptotically periodic in the space variables. Our main result states the existence of an asymptotically decaying, nontrivial solution of this problem with minimal energy. The proof is based on the concentration-compactness principle.     

First Order Approach and Index Theorems for Discrete and Metric Graphs

The aim of the present paper is to introduce a unified notion of Laplacians on discrete and metric graphs. In order to cover all self-adjoint vertex conditions for the associated metric graph Laplacian, we develop systematically a new type of discrete graph operators acting on a decorated graph. The decoration at each vertex of degree d is given by a subspace of , generalising the fact that a function on the standard vertex space has only a scalar value. We illustrate the abstract concept by giving classical examples throughout the article. Our approach includes infinite graphs as well. We develop the notion of exterior derivative, differential forms, Dirac and Laplace operators in the discrete and metric case, using a supersymmetric framework. We calculate the (supersymmetric) index of the discrete Dirac operator generalising the standard index formula involving the Euler characteristic of a graph. Finally, we show that for finite graphs, the corresponding index for the metric Dirac operator agrees with the discrete one.