Bloch electron in a magnetic field and the ising model.

The spectral determinant det(H-varepsilonI) of the Azbel-Hofstadter Hamiltonian H is related to Onsager's partition function of the 2D Ising model for any value of magnetic flux Phi = 2piP/Q through an elementary cell, where P and Q are coprime integers. The band edges of H correspond to the critical temperature of the Ising model; the spectral determinant at these (and other points defined in a certain similar way) is independent of P. A connection of the mean of Lyapunov exponents to the asymptotic (large Q) bandwidth is indicated.