To describe quantum oscillations on metallic rings and similar effects, some authors introduced recently an ideal device which splits the electron wavefunction at the junction of three wires. A proper quantum-mechanical treatment requires, however, that the splitting procedure is described by a hamiltonian. In this Letter we show how this can be achieved in the framework of the self-adjoint-extension theory.

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We study Schrdinger operators on an infinite quantum graph of a chain form which consists of identical rings connected at the touching points by -couplings with a parameter\alpha\in {\bb R}. If the graph is' straight', ie periodic with respect to ring shifts, its Hamiltonian has a band spectrum with all the gaps open whenever 0. We consider a'bending'deformation of the chain consisting of changing one position at a single ring and show that it gives rise to eigenvalues in the open spectral gaps. We analyze dependence of these eigenvalues on the coupling and the'bending angle'as well as resonances of the system coming from the bending. We also discuss the behaviour of the eigenvalues and resonances at the edges of the spectral bands.

We show how the von Neumann theory of self-adjoint extensions can be used to investigatequantum systems the configuration space of which can be decomposed into parts of different dimensionalities. The method can be applied in many situations; we illustrate it on examples including point contact spectroscopy, nanotube systems, microwave resonators, or spin conductance oscillations.

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