Arithmetic Spectral Transitions for the Maryland Model

Abstract

We give a precise description of spectra of the Maryland model $ (h_{\lambda,\alpha,\theta}u)_n=u_{n+1}+u_{n-1}+ \lambda \tan \pi(\theta+n\alpha)u_n$ for all values of parameters. We introduce an arithmetically defined index $\delta (\alpha, \theta)$ and show that for $\alpha\notin\mathbb{Q},\,$ $\sigma_{sc}(h_{\lambda,\alpha,\theta})=\overline{\{e:\gamma_{\lambda}(e) <\delta (\alpha, \theta) \}}$ and $\sigma_{pp}(h_{\lambda,\alpha,\theta})=\{e:\gamma_{\lambda}(e) \geq \delta (\alpha, \theta) \}$. Since $\sigma_{ac}(h_{\lambda,\alpha,\theta})=\emptyset,\;$ this gives complete description of the spectral decomposition for {\it all} values of parameters $\lambda,\alpha,\theta$, making it the first case of a family where arithmetic spectral transition is described without any parameter exclusion. The set of eigenvalues can be explicitly identified for all parameters, using the {\it quantization condition}. We also establish, for the first time for this or any other model, a quantization condition for singular continuous spectrum (an arithmetically defined measure zero set that supports singular continuous measures) for all parameters.