On the leading term and the degree of the polynomial trace mapping associated with a substitution

Using the trace mapping and the reduced trace mapping associated with a substitution, one obtaines the spectral properties of one-dimensional Schrödinger operators of the formH=–+V onl ², where is the discrete Laplacian andV is a diagonal operator with elements derived from a substitution rule. In particular, the reduced trace mapping is closely related to the leading term of the original trace mapping. In this paper, the explicit expression of the leading term is given and its properties are discussed.