On the spectrum of the hierarchical Laplacian

Abstract

Let $(X,d)$ be a locally compact separable ultrametric space. We assume that $(X,d)$ is proper, that is, any closed ball $B$ in $X$ is a compact set. Given a measure $m$ on $X$ and a function $C(B)$ defined on the set of balls (the choice function), we define the hierarchical Laplacian $L_C$ which is closely related to the concept of the hierarchical lattice of F.J. Dyson. $L_C$ is a non-negative definite, self-adjoint operator in $L^2(X,m)$. We address in this paper to the following question: How general can be the spectrum $\mathsf{Spec}(L_C)$ as a subset of the non-negative reals? When $(X,d)$ is compact, $\mathsf{Spec}(L_C)$ is an increasing sequence of eigenvalues of finite multiplicity which contains $0$. Assuming that $(X,d)$ is not compact we show that, under some natural conditions concerning the structure of the hierarchical lattice (= the tree of $d$-balls), any given closed subset $S$ of $[0,\infty)$, which contains $0$ as an accumulation point and is unbounded if $X$ is non-discrete, may appear as $\mathsf{Spec}(L_C)$ for some appropriately chosen function $C(B)$. The operator $-L_C$ extends to $L^q(X,m)$, $0 < q < \infty$, as Markov generator and its spectrum does not depend on $q$. As an example, we consider the operator $\mathfrak{D}^{\alpha}$ of fractional derivative defined on the field $\mathbb{Q}_p$ of $p$-adic numbers.