Kotani–Last conjecture for almost periodic Dirac operators

Let Λφ\Lambda_\varphi be the one-dimensional Dirac operator on L2(R,C2)L^2({\mathbb{R}},{\mathbb{C}}^2), with potential φ:RC\varphi:{\mathbb{R}}\to{\mathbb{C}} satisfying

supxRxx+1φ(t)2dt<.\sup_{x\in{\mathbb{R}}}\int_x^{x+1}|\varphi(t)|^2\,dt<\infty.

Call Λφ\Lambda_\varphi almost periodic when its potential is uniformly almost periodic, meaning that for every ϵ>0\epsilon>0 the set

{τR:φ(x+τ)φ(x)<ϵ}\{\tau\in{\mathbb{R}}:\|\varphi(x+\tau)-\varphi(x)\|_\infty<\epsilon\}

is relatively dense in R{\mathbb{R}}. Kotani–Last conjecture. The presence of absolutely continuous spectrum implies almost periodicity of the potential. This conjecture is refuted: counterexamples are known for continuum and discrete Schrödinger operators, reflectionless Jacobi matrices, and, as discussed in the source, the Dirac setting.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Nyah Davis, íris Emilsdóttir, Long Li and Hangqi Liang, “On the Kotani-Last Conjecture for the Dirac Operator”, arXiv:2509.19072 (2025).

Additional references

2 papers in this index state this conjecture (2008–2025). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:0809.3230.

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