University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Mathematics

L’objet de cette thèse est l’étude spectrale et dynamique de systèmes de la mécanique quantique en utilisant des techniques de commutateurs. Deux parmi les trois articles présentés traitent l’opérateur de Schrödinger discret sur un réseau. Dans le premier article, un principe d’absorption limite est établi pour le Laplacien discret multidimensionnel perturbé par la somme d’un potentiel de type Wigner-von Neumann et d’un potentiel de type longue portée. Ce résultat implique notamment l’absolue continuité du spectre de cet Hamiltonien à certaines énergies. Dans le second article, nous considérons à nouveau l’opérateur de Schrödinger discret multidimensionnel dont le potentiel est de type longue portée. Il est démontré que les fonctions propres correspondant à des valeurs propres de l’Hamiltonien décroissent sous-exponentiellement lorsque ces dernières ne sont pas un seuil. En dimension un, il est démontré de surcroît que ces fonctions propres décroissent exponentiellement. Une conséquence de ceci est l’absence de valeurs propres dans la partie centrale du spectre délimité aux extrémités par des seuils. Le troisième article étudie des propriétés dynamiques d’Hamiltoniens vérifiant des hypothèses minimales dans la théorie des commutateurs. En se basant sur une estimation des vitesses minimales d’une part et une version améliorée du théorème du RAGE d’autre part, nous dérivons deux estimations de propagation pour cette famille d’Hamiltoniens. Ces estimations indiquent que les états du système se comportent dynamiquement de façon très similaire aux états de diffusion. Toutefois, ceci n’écarte pas la possibilité de spectre singulier continu. / This thesis deals with the analysis of spectral and dynamical properties of quantum mechanical systems using techniques of operator commutators. Two of the three research papers that are presented deal exclusively with the discrete Schrödinger operators on the lattice. The first article proves a limiting absorption principle for the multi-dimensional discrete Laplacian perturbed by the sum of a Wigner-von Neumann potential and long-range potential. This result notably implies the absolute continuity of the spectrum of this Hamiltonian at certain energies. The second article proves that eigenfunctions corresponding to non-threshold eigenvalues of multidimensional discrete Schrödinger operators decay sub-exponentially. In one dimension, it is further proven that these eigenfunctions decay exponentially. A consequence of this is the absence of eigenvalues when the middle portion of the spectrum does not contain any thresholds. The third article investigates dynamical properties of Hamiltonians under very minimal assumptions in the theory of commutators. Based on minimal escape velocities and an improved version of the RAGE Theorem, we derive propagation estimates for these types of Hamiltonians. These estimates indicate that the states of the system behave dynamically very much like scattering states. Nonetheless, the existence of singularly continuous states cannot be disproved.

Abstract in English / The research will analyze and compare the current research on the spectral factorization of non-singular and singular matrices. We show that a nonsingular non-scalar matrix A can be written as a product A = BC where the eigenvalues of B and C are arbitrarily prescribed subject to the condition that the product of the eigenvalues of B and C must be equal to the determinant of A. Further, B and C can be simultaneously triangularised as a lower and upper triangular matrix respectively. Singular matrices will be factorized in terms of nilpotent matrices and otherwise over an arbitrary or complex field in order to present an integrated and detailed report on the current state of research in this area. Applications related to unipotent, positive-definite, commutator, involutory and Hermitian factorization are studied for non-singular matrices, while applications related to positive-semidefinite matrices are investigated for singular matrices. We will consider the theorems found in Sourour [24] and Laffey [17] to show that a non-singular non-scalar matrix can be factorized spectrally. The same two articles will be used to show applications to unipotent, positive-definite and commutator factorization. Applications related to Hermitian factorization will be considered in [26]. Laffey [18] shows that a non-singular matrix A with det A = ±1 is a product of four involutions with certain conditions on the arbitrary field. To aid with this conclusion a thorough study is made of Hoffman [13], who shows that an invertible linear transformation T of a finite dimensional vector space over a field is a product of two involutions if and only if T is similar to T−1. Sourour shows in [24] that if A is an n × n matrix over an arbitrary field containing at least n + 2 elements and if det A = ±1, then A is the product of at most four involutions. We will review the work of Wu [29] and show that a singular matrix A of order n ≥ 2 over the complex field can be expressed as a product of two nilpotent matrices, where the rank of each of the factors is the same as A, except when A is a 2 × 2 nilpotent matrix of rank one. Nilpotent factorization of singular matrices over an arbitrary field will also be investigated. Laffey [17] shows that the result of Wu, which he established over the complex field, is also valid over an arbitrary field by making use of a special matrix factorization involving similarity to an LU factorization. His proof is based on an application of Fitting's Lemma to express, up to similarity, a singular matrix as a direct sum of a non-singular and nilpotent matrix, and then to write the non-singular component as a product of a lower and upper triangular matrix using a matrix factorization theorem of Sourour [24]. The main theorem by Sourour and Tang [26] will be investigated to highlight the necessary and sufficient conditions for a singular matrix to be written as a product of two matrices with prescribed eigenvalues. This result is used to prove applications related to positive-semidefinite matrices for singular matrices. / National Research Foundation of South Africa / Mathematical Sciences / M Sc. (Mathematics)

A relação entre os grupos de tranças de superfícies e os grupos de homotopia das esferas é atualmente um tópico de bastante interesse. Nos últimos anos tem sido feitos avanços consideráveis no estudo desta relação no caso dos grupos de tranças de Artin com n cordas, denotado por Bn, da esfera e do plano projetivo. Nessa tese analisamos com detalhes as interações entre a teoria de tranças e a teoria de homotopia, e mostramos novos resultados que estabelecem conexões entre os grupos de homotopia da 2-esfera S2 e os grupos de tranças sobre qualquer superfície. No andamento deste trabalho, descobrimos uma conexão surpreendente dos grupos de tranças com os grupos cristalográficos e de Bieberbach: para n maior ou igual que 3, o grupo quociente Bn/[Pn, Pn] é um grupo cristalográfico que contém grupos de Bieberbach como subgrupos, onde Pn é o subgrupo de tranças puras de Bn. Com isto obtivemos uma formulação de um Teorema de Auslander e Kuranishi para 2-grupos finitos e exibimos variedades Riemannianas compactas planas que admitem difeomorfismo de Anosov e cujo grupo de holonomia é Z2k . Além disso, durante esta tese, detectamos e, quando possível, corrigimos algumas imprecisões em dois importantes artigos nessa área de estudo, escritos por J. Berrick, F. R. Cohen, Y. L. Wong e J. Wu (Jour. Amer. Math. Soc. - 2006) assim como por J. Y. Li e J.Wu (Proc. London Math. Soc. - 2009). / The relation between surface braid groups and homotopy groups of spheres is currently a subject of great interest. Considerable progress has been made in recent years in the study of these relations in the case of the n-string Artin braid groups, denoted by Bn, the sphere and the projective plane. In this thesis we analyse in detail the interactions between braid theory and homotopy theory, and we present new results that establish connections between the homotopy groups of the 2-sphere S2 and the braid groups of any surface. During the course of this work, we discovered an unexpected connection of braid groups with crystallographic and Bieberbach groups: for n greater or equal than 3, the quotient group Bn/[Pn, Pn] is a crystallographic group that contains Bieberbach groups as subgroups, where Pn is the pure braid subgroup of Bn. This enables us to obtain a formulation of a theorem of Auslander and Kuranishi for finite 2-groups, and to exhibit Riemannian compact flat manifolds that admit Anosov diffeomorphisms and whose holonomy group is Z2k. In addition, during the thesis, we have detected, and where possible, corrected some inaccuracies in two important papers in the area of study, by J. Berrick, F. R. Cohen, Y. L. Wong and J. Wu (Jour. Amer. Math. Soc. - 2006), and by J. Y. Li and J. Wu (Proc. London Math. Soc. - 2009).

A relação entre os grupos de tranças de superfícies e os grupos de homotopia das esferas é atualmente um tópico de bastante interesse. Nos últimos anos tem sido feitos avanços consideráveis no estudo desta relação no caso dos grupos de tranças de Artin com n cordas, denotado por Bn, da esfera e do plano projetivo. Nessa tese analisamos com detalhes as interações entre a teoria de tranças e a teoria de homotopia, e mostramos novos resultados que estabelecem conexões entre os grupos de homotopia da 2-esfera S2 e os grupos de tranças sobre qualquer superfície. No andamento deste trabalho, descobrimos uma conexão surpreendente dos grupos de tranças com os grupos cristalográficos e de Bieberbach: para n maior ou igual que 3, o grupo quociente Bn/[Pn, Pn] é um grupo cristalográfico que contém grupos de Bieberbach como subgrupos, onde Pn é o subgrupo de tranças puras de Bn. Com isto obtivemos uma formulação de um Teorema de Auslander e Kuranishi para 2-grupos finitos e exibimos variedades Riemannianas compactas planas que admitem difeomorfismo de Anosov e cujo grupo de holonomia é Z2k . Além disso, durante esta tese, detectamos e, quando possível, corrigimos algumas imprecisões em dois importantes artigos nessa área de estudo, escritos por J. Berrick, F. R. Cohen, Y. L. Wong e J. Wu (Jour. Amer. Math. Soc. - 2006) assim como por J. Y. Li e J.Wu (Proc. London Math. Soc. - 2009). / The relation between surface braid groups and homotopy groups of spheres is currently a subject of great interest. Considerable progress has been made in recent years in the study of these relations in the case of the n-string Artin braid groups, denoted by Bn, the sphere and the projective plane. In this thesis we analyse in detail the interactions between braid theory and homotopy theory, and we present new results that establish connections between the homotopy groups of the 2-sphere S2 and the braid groups of any surface. During the course of this work, we discovered an unexpected connection of braid groups with crystallographic and Bieberbach groups: for n greater or equal than 3, the quotient group Bn/[Pn, Pn] is a crystallographic group that contains Bieberbach groups as subgroups, where Pn is the pure braid subgroup of Bn. This enables us to obtain a formulation of a theorem of Auslander and Kuranishi for finite 2-groups, and to exhibit Riemannian compact flat manifolds that admit Anosov diffeomorphisms and whose holonomy group is Z2k. In addition, during the thesis, we have detected, and where possible, corrected some inaccuracies in two important papers in the area of study, by J. Berrick, F. R. Cohen, Y. L. Wong and J. Wu (Jour. Amer. Math. Soc. - 2006), and by J. Y. Li and J. Wu (Proc. London Math. Soc. - 2009).