Spectrum of Lebesgue measure zero for Jacobi matrices of quasicrystals

Abstract

We study one-dimensional random Jacobi operators corresponding to strictly ergodic dynamical systems. In this context, we characterize the spectrum of these operators by non-uniformity of the transfer matrices and the set where the Lyapunov exponent vanishes. Adapting this result to subshifts satisfying the so-called Boshernitzan condition, it turns out that the spectrum is supported on a Cantor set with Lebesgue measure zero. This generalizes earlier results for Schrödinger operators.

18 pages