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Professor Stephen Shipman
Louisiana State University
Reducibility of the Fermi surface for periodic quantum-graph operators
March 30, 2018
2-3 PM, 646A PGH
Abstract
The Fermi, or Floquet, surface for a periodic operator at a given energy level is an algebraic variety that describes all complex wave vectors admissible by the periodic operator at that energy. Its reducibility is intimately related to the construction of embedded eigenvalues supported by local defects. The rarity of reducibility is reflected in the fact that a generic polynomial in several variables cannot be factored. The ‘easy’ mechanism for reducibility is symmetry. However, reducibility ensues in much more general and interesting situations. This work constructs a class of non-symmetric periodic Schrodinger operators on metric graphs (quantum graphs) whose Floquet surface is reducible. The graphs in this study are obtained by coupling two identical copies of a periodic quantum graph by edges to form a bilayer graph. Reducibility of the Floquet surface for all energies ensues when the coupling edges have potentials belonging to the same asymmetry class, that is, when their ‘spectral A-functions’ are identical. If the potentials of the connecting edges belong to different asymmetry classes, then typically the Floquet surface is not reducible. Bilayer graphene is a notable exception--its Floquet surface is always reducible.
David H. Wagner University of Houston
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Last modified: September 26 2017 - 05:42:22