Speaker: 

Simon Larson

Institution: 

Caltech

Time: 

Thursday, May 6, 2021 - 10:00am to 11:00am

Location: 

zoom https://uci.zoom.us/j/93076750122?pwd=Y3pLdndoQTBuNUhxQUxFMkQ2QnRFQT09

We are interested in the nature of the spectrum of the one-dimensional Schr\"odinger operator
$$
  - \frac{d^2}{dx^2}-Fx + \sum_{n \in \mathbb{Z}}g_n \delta(x-n)
$$
with $F>0$ and two different choices of the coupling constants $\{g_n\}_{n\in \mathbb{Z}}$. In the first model $g_n \equiv \lambda$ and we prove that if $F\in \pi^2 \mathbb{Q}$ then the spectrum is $\mathbb{R}$ and is furthermore absolutely continuous away from an explicit discrete set of points. In the second model $g_n$ are independent random variables with mean zero and variance $\lambda^2$. Under certain assumptions on the distribution of these random variables we prove that almost surely the spectrum is dense pure point if $F < \lambda^2/2$ and purely singular continuous if $F> \lambda^2/2$. Based on joint work with Rupert Frank.