Transfer Operators, Canonical Center Dynamics, and Spectral Applications for Long-Range Operators

Abstract

We introduce an operator-theoretic framework for long-range operators over general dynamical systems with analytic hopping and small potential. By establishing a partially hyperbolic splitting on the fibered solution bundle, we define the Canonical Center Bundle (CCB) as the center subbundle of this splitting, which is shown to be globally trivial. The center bundle admits a representation via Riesz spectral projections of the transfer operator. Furthermore, we show that, in the local regime, the center bundle arising in this framework essentially coincides, in the sense of gap convergence, with the Intrinsic Center Bundles (ICB) obtained from finite-range approximations in \cite{GJ}. The partially hyperbolic structure thereby reduces the spectral problem to the center bundle, leading to a Johnson-type characterization of the spectrum in terms of the associated center cocycle. We then apply this framework to quasi-periodic Schrödinger operators with analytic hopping, large analytic potentials and Diophantine frequency. In this setting, the center cocycle is analytic and satisfies a Center Thouless formula. As consequences, we establish the absolute continuity of the integrated density of states (IDS), resolving a problem of Eliasson; prove quantitative Hölder continuity of the IDS, partially answering a question of You; and obtain Anderson localization for the original Schrödinger operators.