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This book is devoted to the study of operators on discrete structures. The operators are supposed to be self-adjoint and obey a certain translation invariance property. The discrete structures are given as Cayley graphs via finitely generated groups. Here, sofic groups and amenable groups are in the center of our considerations. Note that every finitely generated amenable group is sofic. We investigate the spectrum of a discrete self-adjoint operator by studying a sequence of finite dimensional analogues of these operators. In the setting of amenable groups we obtain these approximating operators by restricting the operator in question to finite subsets Qn , n ∈ N. These finite dimensional operators are self-adjoint and therefore admit a well-defined normalized eigenvalue counting function. The limit of the normalized eigenvalue counting functions when |Qn | → ∞ (if it exists) is called the integrated density of states (IDS). It is a distribution function of a probability measure encoding the distribution of the spectrum of the operator in question on the real axis. We prove the existence of the IDS in various geometric settings and for different types of operators. The models we consider include deterministic as well as random situations. Depending on the specific setting, we prove existence of the IDS as a weak limit of distribution functions or even as a uniform limit. Moreover, in certain situations we are able to express the IDS via a semi-explicit formula using the trace of the spectral projection of the original operator. This is sometimes referred to as the validity of the Pastur-Shubin trace formula. In the most general geometric setting we study, the operators are defined on Cayley graphs of sofic groups. Here we prove weak convergence of the eigenvalue counting functions and verify the validity of the Pastur-Shubin trace formula for random and non-random operators . These results apply to operators which not necessarily bounded or of finite hopping range. The methods are based on resolvent techniques. This theory is established without having an ergodic theorem for sofic groups at hand. Note that ergodic theory is the usual tool used in the proof of convergence results of this type. Specifying to operators on amenable groups we are able to prove stronger results. In the discrete case, we show that the IDS exists uniformly for a certain class of finite hopping range operators. This is obtained by using a Banach space-valued ergodic theorem. We show that this applies to eigenvalue counting functions, which implies their convergence with respect to the Banach space norm, in this case the supremum norm. Thus, the heart of this theory is the verification of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem. Proceeding in two steps we first prove this result for so-called ST-amenable groups. Then, using results from the theory of ε-quasi tilings, we prove a version of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem which is valid for all amenable groups. Focusing on random operators on amenable groups, we prove uniform existence of the IDS without the assumption that the operator needs to be of finite hopping range or bounded. Moreover, we verify the Pastur-Shubin trace formula. Here we present different techniques. First we show uniform convergence of the normalized eigenvalue counting functions adapting the technique of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem from the deterministic setting. In a second approach we use weak convergence of the eigenvalue counting functions and additionally obtain control over the convergence at the jumps of the IDS. These ingredients are applied to verify uniform existence of the IDS. In both situations we employ results from the theory of large deviations, in order to deal with long-range interactions.

Le théorème ergodique de Birkhoff nous renseigne sur la convergence de suites de fonctions. Nous nous intéressons alors à étudier la convergence en moyenne et presque partout de ces suites, mais dans le cas où la suite est une suite strictement croissante de nombres entiers positifs. C’est alors que nous définirons les suites uniformes et étudierons la convergence presque partout pour ces suites. Nous regarderons également s’il existe certaines suites pour lesquelles la convergence n’a pas lieu. Nous présenterons alors un résultat dû en partie à Alexandra Bellow qui dit que de telles suites existent. Finalement, nous démontrerons une équivalence entre la notion de transformatiuon fortement mélangeante et la convergence d'une certaine suite qui utilise des “poids” qui satisfont certaines propriétés. / Birkhoff’s ergodic theorem gives us information about the convergence of sequences of functions. We are then interested in studying the mean and pointwise convergence of these sequences, but in the case the sequence is a strictly increasing sequence of positive integers. With that goal in mind, we will define uniform sequences and study the pointwise convergence for these sequences. We will also explore the possibility that there exists some sequences for which the convergence of the sequence does not occur. We will present a result of Alexandra Bellow that says that such sequences exist. Finally, we will prove a result which establishes an equivalence between the notion of a strongly mixing transformation and the convergence of a sequence that uses “weights” which satisfies certain properties.

[pt] Os resultados fundamentais da teoria ergódica – o teorema de Birkhoff e o teorema de Kingman – se referem a convergência em quase todo ponto de um processo ergódico aditivo e subaditivo, respectivamente. É bem conhecido que dado um sistema unicamente ergódico e um observável contínuo, as médias de Birkhoff correspondentes convergem em todo ponto e uniformemente. Desta forma, é natural também se perguntar o que acontece com o teorema de Kingman quando o sistema é unicamente ergódico. O primeiro objetivo desta dissertação é responder a essa pergunta utilizando o trabalho de A. Furman. Mais ainda, apresentamos algumas extensões e aplicações desse resultado para cociclos lineares, que foram obtidas por S. Jitomirskaya e R. Mavi. Nosso segundo objetivo é provar um novo resultado sobre taxas de convergências de médias de Birkhoff, para um certo tipo de processo unicamente ergódico: uma translação diofantina no toro com um observável Holder contínuo. / [en] The fundamental results in ergodic theory – the Birkhoff theorem and the Kingman theorem – refer to the almost everywhere convergence of additive and respectively subadditive ergodic processes. It is well known that given a uniquely ergodic system and a continuous observable, the corresponding Birkhoff averages converge everywhere and uniformly. It is therefore natural to ask what happens with Kingman s theorem when the system is uniquely ergodic. The first objective of this dissertation is to answer this question following the work of A. Furman. Moreover, we present some extensions and applications of this result for linear cocycles, which were obtained by S. Jitomirskaya and R. Mavi. Our second objective is to prove a new result regarding the rate of convergence of the Birkhoff averages for a certain type of uniquely ergodic process: a Diophantine torus translation with Holder continuous observable.

Le théorème ergodique de Birkhoff nous renseigne sur la convergence de suites de fonctions. Nous nous intéressons alors à étudier la convergence en moyenne et presque partout de ces suites, mais dans le cas où la suite est une suite strictement croissante de nombres entiers positifs. C’est alors que nous définirons les suites uniformes et étudierons la convergence presque partout pour ces suites. Nous regarderons également s’il existe certaines suites pour lesquelles la convergence n’a pas lieu. Nous présenterons alors un résultat dû en partie à Alexandra Bellow qui dit que de telles suites existent. Finalement, nous démontrerons une équivalence entre la notion de transformatiuon fortement mélangeante et la convergence d'une certaine suite qui utilise des “poids” qui satisfont certaines propriétés. / Birkhoff’s ergodic theorem gives us information about the convergence of sequences of functions. We are then interested in studying the mean and pointwise convergence of these sequences, but in the case the sequence is a strictly increasing sequence of positive integers. With that goal in mind, we will define uniform sequences and study the pointwise convergence for these sequences. We will also explore the possibility that there exists some sequences for which the convergence of the sequence does not occur. We will present a result of Alexandra Bellow that says that such sequences exist. Finally, we will prove a result which establishes an equivalence between the notion of a strongly mixing transformation and the convergence of a sequence that uses “weights” which satisfies certain properties.

This book is devoted to the study of operators on discrete structures. The operators are supposed to be self-adjoint and obey a certain translation invariance property. The discrete structures are given as Cayley graphs via finitely generated groups. Here, sofic groups and amenable groups are in the center of our considerations. Note that every finitely generated amenable group is sofic. We investigate the spectrum of a discrete self-adjoint operator by studying a sequence of finite dimensional analogues of these operators. In the setting of amenable groups we obtain these approximating operators by restricting the operator in question to finite subsets Qn , n ∈ N. These finite dimensional operators are self-adjoint and therefore admit a well-defined normalized eigenvalue counting function. The limit of the normalized eigenvalue counting functions when |Qn | → ∞ (if it exists) is called the integrated density of states (IDS). It is a distribution function of a probability measure encoding the distribution of the spectrum of the operator in question on the real axis. We prove the existence of the IDS in various geometric settings and for different types of operators. The models we consider include deterministic as well as random situations. Depending on the specific setting, we prove existence of the IDS as a weak limit of distribution functions or even as a uniform limit. Moreover, in certain situations we are able to express the IDS via a semi-explicit formula using the trace of the spectral projection of the original operator. This is sometimes referred to as the validity of the Pastur-Shubin trace formula. In the most general geometric setting we study, the operators are defined on Cayley graphs of sofic groups. Here we prove weak convergence of the eigenvalue counting functions and verify the validity of the Pastur-Shubin trace formula for random and non-random operators . These results apply to operators which not necessarily bounded or of finite hopping range. The methods are based on resolvent techniques. This theory is established without having an ergodic theorem for sofic groups at hand. Note that ergodic theory is the usual tool used in the proof of convergence results of this type. Specifying to operators on amenable groups we are able to prove stronger results. In the discrete case, we show that the IDS exists uniformly for a certain class of finite hopping range operators. This is obtained by using a Banach space-valued ergodic theorem. We show that this applies to eigenvalue counting functions, which implies their convergence with respect to the Banach space norm, in this case the supremum norm. Thus, the heart of this theory is the verification of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem. Proceeding in two steps we first prove this result for so-called ST-amenable groups. Then, using results from the theory of ε-quasi tilings, we prove a version of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem which is valid for all amenable groups. Focusing on random operators on amenable groups, we prove uniform existence of the IDS without the assumption that the operator needs to be of finite hopping range or bounded. Moreover, we verify the Pastur-Shubin trace formula. Here we present different techniques. First we show uniform convergence of the normalized eigenvalue counting functions adapting the technique of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem from the deterministic setting. In a second approach we use weak convergence of the eigenvalue counting functions and additionally obtain control over the convergence at the jumps of the IDS. These ingredients are applied to verify uniform existence of the IDS. In both situations we employ results from the theory of large deviations, in order to deal with long-range interactions.