Commutation Relations for Unitary Operators II

Let $f$ be a regular non-constant symbol defined on the $d$-dimensional torus ${\mathbb T}^d$ with values on the unit circle. Denote respectively by $\kappa$ and $L$, its set of critical points and the associated Laurent operator on $l^2({\mathbb Z}^d)$. Let $U$ be a suitable unitary local perturbation of $L$. We show that the operator $U$ has finite point spectrum and no singular continuous component away from the set $f(\kappa)$. We apply these results and provide a new approach to analyze the spectral properties of GGT matrices with asymptotically constant Verblunsky coefficients. The proofs are based on positive commutator techniques. We also obtain some propagation estimates.