Quantum dynamics via complex analysis methods: General upper bounds without time-averaging and tight lower bounds for the strongly coupled Fibonacci Hamiltonian

We develop further the approach to upper and lower bounds in quantum dynamics via complex analysis methods which was introduced by us in a sequence of earlier papers. Here we derive upper bounds for non-time averaged outside probabilities and moments of the position operator from lower bounds for transfer matrices at complex energies. Moreover, for the time-averaged transport exponents, we present improved lower bounds in the special case of the Fibonacci Hamiltonian. These bounds lead to an optimal description of the time-averaged spreading rate of the fast part of the wavepacket in the large coupling limit. This provides the first example which demonstrates that the time-averaged spreading rates may exceed the upper box-counting dimension of the spectrum. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.