Generalized eigenfunctions and scattering matrices for position-dependent quantum walks

TL;DR

This paper develops a spectral and scattering theory framework for position-dependent quantum walks, constructing generalized eigenfunctions and linking them to the scattering matrix, enhancing understanding of quantum walk dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a method to construct generalized eigenfunctions for position-dependent quantum walks and characterizes their relation to the scattering matrix.

Findings

Generalized eigenfunctions belong to ^{} space, not square-summable.

The scattering matrix appears in the singularity expansion of eigenfunctions.

Provides a new spectral analysis approach for quantum walks.

Abstract

We study the spectral analysis and the scattering theory for time evolution operators of position-dependent quantum walks. Our main purpose of this paper is construction of generalized eigenfunctions of the time evolution operator. Roughly speaking, the generalized eigenfunctions are not square summable but belong to $\ell^{\infty}$-space on ${\bf Z}$. Moreover, we derive a characterization of the set of generalized eigenfunctions in view of the time-harmonic scattering theory. Thus we show that the S-matrix associated with the quantum walk appears in the singularity expansion of generalized eigenfunctions.