Critical Localization and Strange Nonchaotic Dynamics: The Fibonacci Chain

Abstract

The discrete Schr\"odinger equation with a quasiperiodic dichotomous potential specified by the Fibonacci sequence is known to have a singular continuous eigenvalue spectrum with all states being critically localized. This equation can be transformed into a quasiperiodic skew product dynamical system. In this iterative mapping which is entirely equivalent to the Schr\"odinger problem, critically localized states correspond to fractal attractors which have all Lyapunov exponents equal to zero. This provides an alternate means of studying the spectrum, as has been done earlier for the Harper equation. We study the spectrum of the Fibonacci system and describe the scaling of gap widths with potential strength.