Convergence of the solutions of the discounted equation: the discrete case

We derive a discrete version of the results of Davini et al. (Convergence of the solutions of the discounted Hamilton–Jacobi equation. Invent Math, 2016). If M is a compact metric space, \(c : M\times M \rightarrow \mathbb {R}\) a continuous cost function and \(\lambda \in (0,1)\), the unique solution to the discrete \(\lambda \)-discounted equation is the only function \(u_\lambda : M\rightarrow \mathbb {R}\) such that

$$\begin{aligned} \forall x\in M, \quad u_\lambda (x) = \min _{y\in M} \lambda u_\lambda (y) + c(y,x). \end{aligned}$$

We prove that there exists a unique constant \(\alpha \in \mathbb {R}\) such that the family of \(u_\lambda +\alpha /(1-\lambda )\) is bounded as \(\lambda \rightarrow 1\) and that for this \(\alpha \), the family uniformly converges to a function \(u_0 : M\rightarrow \mathbb {R}\) which then verifies

$$\begin{aligned} \forall x\in X, \quad u_0(x) = \min _{y\in X}u_0(y) + c(y,x)+\alpha . \end{aligned}$$

The proofs make use of Discrete Weak KAM theory. We also characterize \(u_0\) in terms of Peierls barrier and projected Mather measures.

     

A semilinear parabolic problem with singular term at the boundary

In this paper, we deal with a class of semilinear parabolic problems related to a Hardy inequality with singular weight at the boundary.

More precisely, we consider the problem

$$\left\{\begin{array}{l@{\quad}l}u_t-\Delta u=\lambda \frac{u^p}{d^2}&\text{ in }\,\Omega_{T}\equiv\Omega \times (0,T), \\u>0 &\text{ in }\,{\Omega_T}, \\u(x,0)=u_0(x)>0 &\text{ in }\,\Omega, \\u=0 &\text{ on }\partial \Omega \times (0,T),\end{array}\right.$$

(P)

where Ω is a bounded regular domain of \({\mathbbm{R}^N}\), \({d(x)=\text{dist}(x,\partial\Omega)}\), \({p > 0}\), and \({\lambda > 0}\) is a positive constant.

We prove that

1. 1.
   If \({0 < p < 1}\), then (P) has no positive very weak solution.
    
2. 2.
   If \({p=1}\), then (P) has a positive very weak solution under additional hypotheses on \({\lambda}\) and \({u_0}\).
    
3. 3.
   If \({p > 1}\), then, for all \({\lambda > 0}\), the problem (P) has a positive very weak solution under suitable hypothesis on \({u_0}\).
    

Moreover, we consider also the concave–convex-related case.

     

Least energy solutions for nonlinear Schrödinger equations involving the half Laplacian and critical growth

In this paper, we study a class of nonlinear Schrödinger equations involving the half Laplacian and critical growth. We assume that the potential of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation includes a parameter \({\lambda}\). Moreover, the potential behaves like a potential well when the parameter \({\lambda}\) is large. Using variational methods, combining Nehari methods, we prove that the equation has a least energy solution which, for \({\lambda}\) large, localizes near the bottom of the potential well. Moreover, if the zero set int \({V^{-1}(0)}\) of \({V(x)}\) includes more than one isolated component, then \({u_{\lambda}(x)}\) will be trapped around all the isolated components. However, in Laplacian case when \({s = 1}\), for \({\lambda}\) large, the corresponding least energy solution will be trapped around only one isolated component and will become arbitrary small in other components of int \({V^{-1}(0)}\). This is the essential difference with the Laplacian problems since the operator \({(- \Delta)^{1/2}}\) is nonlocal.     

Multiplicity Results for the Fractional Laplacian in Expanding Domains

In this paper, we establish a multiplicity result of nontrivial weak solutions for the problem \((-\Delta )^{\alpha } u +u= h(u)\)    in \(\Omega _{\lambda }\), \(u=0\)    on \(\partial \Omega _{\lambda }\), where \(\Omega _{\lambda }=\lambda \Omega \), \(\Omega \) is a smooth and bounded domain in \({\mathbb {R}}^N, N>2\alpha \), \(\lambda \) is a positive parameter, \(\alpha \in (0,1)\), \((-\Delta )^{\alpha }\) is the fractional Laplacian and the nonlinear term h(u) has subcritical growth. We use minimax methods, the Ljusternick–Schnirelmann and Morse theories to get multiplicity results depending on the topology of \(\Omega \).     

Small Littlewood–Richardson coefficients

We develop structural insights into the Littlewood–Richardson graph, whose number of vertices equals the Littlewood–Richardson coefficient \(c_{\lambda ,\mu }^{\nu }\) for given partitions \(\lambda \), \(\mu \), and \(\nu \). This graph was first introduced in Bürgisser and Ikenmeyer (SIAM J Discrete Math 27(4):1639–1681, 2013), where its connectedness was proved. Our insights are useful for the design of algorithms for computing the Littlewood–Richardson coefficient: We design an algorithm for the exact computation of \(c_{\lambda ,\mu }^{\nu }\) with running time \(\mathcal {O}\big ((c_{\lambda ,\mu }^{\nu })^2 \cdot {\textsf {poly}}(n)\big )\), where \(\lambda \), \(\mu \), and \(\nu \) are partitions of length at most n. Moreover, we introduce an algorithm for deciding whether \(c_{\lambda ,\mu }^{\nu } \ge t\) whose running time is \(\mathcal {O}\big (t^2 \cdot {\textsf {poly}}(n)\big )\). Even the existence of a polynomial-time algorithm for deciding whether \(c_{\lambda ,\mu }^{\nu } \ge 2\) is a nontrivial new result on its own. Our insights also lead to the proof of a conjecture by King et al. (Symmetry in physics. American Mathematical Society, Providence, 2004), stating that \(c_{\lambda ,\mu }^{\nu }=2\) implies \(c_{M\lambda ,M\mu }^{M\nu } = M+1\) for all \(M \in \mathbb {N}\). Here, the stretching of partitions is defined componentwise.     

Sharp Moser–Trudinger Inequalities on Hyperbolic Spaces with Exact Growth Condition

Let \(\Phi _{n}(x)=e^x-\sum _{j=0}^{n-2}\frac{x^j}{j!}\) and \(\alpha _{n} =n\omega _{n-1}^{\frac{1}{n-1}}\) be the sharp constant in Moser’s inequality (where \(\omega _{n-1}\) is the area of the surface of the unit \(n\)-ball in \(\mathbb {R}^n\)), and \(dV\) be the volume element on the \(n\)-dimensional hyperbolic space \((\mathbb {H}^n, g)\) (\(n\ge {2}\)). In this paper, we establish the following sharp Moser–Trudinger type inequalities with the exact growth condition on \(\mathbb {H}^n\):

For any \(u\in {W^{1,n}(\mathbb {H}^n)}\) satisfying \(\Vert \nabla _{g}u\Vert _{n}\le {1}\), there exists a constant \(C(n)>0\) such that

$$\begin{aligned} \int _{\mathbb {H}^n}\frac{\Phi _{n}(\alpha _{n}|u|^{\frac{n}{n-1}})}{(1+|u|)^{\frac{n}{n-1}}}dV \le {C(n)\Vert u\Vert _{L^n}^{n}}. \end{aligned}$$

The power \(\frac{n}{n-1}\) and the constant \(\alpha _{n}\) are optimal in the following senses:

1. (i)
   If the power \(\frac{n}{n-1}\) in the denominator is replaced by any \(p<\frac{n}{n-1}\), then there exists a sequence of functions \(\{u_{k}\}\) such that \(\Vert \nabla _{g}u_{k}\Vert _{n}\le {1}\), but

   $$\begin{aligned} \frac{1}{\Vert u_{k}\Vert _{L^n}^{n}}\int _{\mathbb {H}^n} \frac{\Phi _{n}(\alpha _{n}(|u_{k}|)^{\frac{n}{n-1}})}{(1+|u_{k}|)^{p}}dV \rightarrow {\infty }. \end{aligned}$$
    
2. (ii)
   If \(\alpha >\alpha _{n}\), then there exists a sequence of function \(\{u_{k}\}\) such that \(\Vert \nabla _{g}u_{k}\Vert _{n}\le {1}\), but

   $$\begin{aligned} \frac{1}{\Vert u_{k}\Vert _{L^n}^{n}}\int _{\mathbb {H}^n} \frac{\Phi _{n}(\alpha (|u_{k}|)^{\frac{n}{n-1}})}{(1+|u_{k}|)^{p}}dV\rightarrow {\infty }, \end{aligned}$$

   for any \(p\ge {0}\).
    

This result sharpens the earlier work of the authors Lu and Tang (Adv Nonlinear Stud 13(4):1035–1052, 2013) on best constants for the Moser–Trudinger inequalities on hyperbolic spaces.

     

Global Well-Posedness of 3D Axisymmetric MHD System with Pure Swirl Magnetic Field

In this paper, we consider the axisymmetric MHD system with nearly critical initial data having the special structure: \(u_{0}=u_{0}^{r} e_{r}+u^{\theta}_{0} e_{\theta}+u_{0}^{z} e_{z}\), \(b_{0}=b_{0}^{\theta}e_{\theta}\). We prove that, this system is globally well-posed provided the scaling-invariant norms \(\|ru^{\theta}_{0}\|_{L^{\infty}}\), \(\|r^{-1}b^{\theta}_{0}\| _{L^{\frac{3}{2}}}\) are sufficiently small.     

On Hecke groups,Schwarzian triangle functions and a class of hyper-elliptic functions

Let m be a positive integer \(\ge \)3 and \(\lambda =2\cos \frac{\pi }{m}\). The Hecke group \(\mathfrak {G}(\lambda )\) is generated by the fractional linear transformations \(\tau + \lambda \) and \(-\frac{1}{\tau }\) for \(\tau \) in the upper half plane \(\mathbb H\) of the complex plane \(\mathbb C\). We consider a set of functions \(\mathfrak {f}_0, \mathfrak {f}_i\) and \(\mathfrak {f}_{\infty }\) automorphic with respect to \(\mathfrak {G}(\lambda )\), constructed from the conformal mapping of the fundamental domain of \(\mathfrak {G}(\lambda )\) to the upper half plane \(\mathbb H\), and establish their connection with the Legendre functions and a class of hyper-elliptic functions. Many well-known classical identities associated with the cases of \(\lambda =1\) and 2 are preserved. As an application, we will establish a set of identities expressing the reciprocal of \(\pi \) in terms of the hypergeometric series.     

Conformally Covariant Differential Operators for the Diagonal Action of $$O(p,\,q)$$ on Real Quadrics

Let \(X=G/P\) be a real projective quadric, where \(G=O(p,\,q)\) and P is a parabolic subgroup of G. Let \((\pi _{\lambda ,\epsilon },\, \mathcal H_{\lambda ,\epsilon })_{ (\lambda ,\epsilon )\in {\mathbb {C}}\times \{\pm \}}\) be the family of (smooth) representations of G induced from the characters of P. For \((\lambda ,\, \epsilon ),\, (\mu ,\, \eta )\in {\mathbb {C}}\times \{\pm \},\) a differential operator \(\mathbf D_{(\mu ,\eta )}^\mathrm{reg}\) on \(X\times X,\) acting G-covariantly from \({\mathcal {H}}_{\lambda ,\epsilon } \otimes {\mathcal {H}}_{\mu , \eta }\) into \({\mathcal {H}}_{\lambda +1,-\epsilon } \otimes {\mathcal {H}}_{\mu +1, -\eta }\) is constructed.     

Symmetry for a general class of overdetermined elliptic problems

Let \({\Omega}\) a bounded domain in \({\mathbb{R} ^N }\), and let \({u\in C^1 (\overline{\Omega})}\) a weak solution of the following overdetermined BVP: \({-\nabla (g(|\nabla u|)|\nabla u|^{-1}\nabla u)=f(|x|,u)}\), \({ u > 0 }\) in \({\Omega }\) and \({u=0, \ |\nabla u(x)|=\lambda (|x|)}\) on \({\partial \Omega }\), where \({g\in C([0,+\infty)\cap C^1 ((0,+\infty ) ) }\) with \({g(0)=0}\), \({g'(t) > 0}\) for \({t > 0}\), \({f\in C([0,+\infty ) \times [0, +\infty ) )}\), f is nonincreasing in \({|x|}\), \({\lambda \in C([0, +\infty )) }\) and \({\lambda }\) is positive and nondecreasing. We show that \({\Omega }\) is a ball and u satisfies some “local” kind of symmetry. The proof is based on the method of continuous Steiner symmetrization.     

The positive solutions to a quasi-linear problem of fractional <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Laplacian type without the Ambrosetti–Rabinowitz condition

In this paper, we study the existence of nontrivial solution to a quasi-linear problem

Open image in new window

where \( (-\Delta )_{p}^{s} u(x)=2\lim \nolimits _{\epsilon \rightarrow 0}\int _{\mathbb {R}^N \backslash B_{\varepsilon }(X)} \frac{|u(x)-u(y)|^{p-2} (u(x)-u(y))}{| x-y | ^{N+sp}}dy, \) \( x\in \mathbb {R}^N\) is a nonlocal and nonlinear operator and \( p\in (1,\infty )\), \( s \in (0,1) \), \( \lambda \in \mathbb {R} \), \( \Omega \subset \mathbb {R}^N (N\ge 2)\) is a bounded domain which smooth boundary \(\partial \Omega \). Using the variational methods based on the critical points theory, together with truncation and comparison techniques, we show that there exists a critical value \(\lambda _{*}>0\) of the parameter, such that if \(\lambda >\lambda _{*}\), the problem \((P)_{\lambda }\) has at least two positive solutions, if \(\lambda =\lambda _{*}\), the problem \((P)_{\lambda }\) has at least one positive solution and it has no positive solution if \(\lambda \in (0,\lambda _{*})\). Finally, we show that for all \(\lambda \ge \lambda _{*}\), the problem \((P)_{\lambda }\) has a smallest positive solution.

     

The tree property at the successor of a singular limit of measurable cardinals

Assume \(\lambda \) is a singular limit of \(\eta \) supercompact cardinals, where \(\eta \le \lambda \) is a limit ordinal. We present two methods for arranging the tree property to hold at \(\lambda ^{+}\) while making \(\lambda ^{+}\) the successor of the limit of the first \(\eta \) measurable cardinals. The first method is then used to get, from the same assumptions, the tree property at \(\aleph _{\eta ^2+1}\) with the failure of SCH at \(\aleph _{\eta ^2}\). This extends results of Neeman and Sinapova. The second method is also used to get the tree property at the successor of an arbitrary singular cardinal, which extends some results of Magidor–Shelah, Neeman and Sinapova.     

Existence and concentration of solution for a class of fractional Hamiltonian systems with subquadratic potential

In this article, we consider the following fractional Hamiltonian systems:

$$\begin{aligned} {_{t}}D_{\infty }^{\alpha }({_{-\infty }}D_{t}^{\alpha }u) + \lambda L(t)u = \nabla W(t, u), \;\;t\in \mathbb {R}, \end{aligned}$$

where \(\alpha \in (1/2, 1)\), \(\lambda >0\) is a parameter, \(L\in C(\mathbb {R}, \mathbb {R}^{n\times n})\) and \(W \in C^{1}(\mathbb {R} \times \mathbb {R}^n, \mathbb {R})\). Unlike most other papers on this problem, we require that L(t) is a positive semi-definite symmetric matrix for all \(t\in \mathbb {R}\), that is, \(L(t) \equiv 0\) is allowed to occur in some finite interval \(\mathbb {I}\) of \(\mathbb {R}\). Under some mild assumptions on W, we establish the existence of nontrivial weak solution, which vanish on \(\mathbb {R} \setminus \mathbb {I}\) as \(\lambda \rightarrow \infty ,\) and converge to \(\tilde{u}\) in \(H^{\alpha }(\mathbb {R})\); here \(\tilde{u} \in E_{0}^{\alpha }\) is nontrivial weak solution of the Dirichlet BVP for fractional Hamiltonian systems on the finite interval \(\mathbb {I}\). Furthermore, we give the multiplicity results for the above fractional Hamiltonian systems.

     

Standard Jordan partitions with three parameters

We extend previous work on standard two-parameter Jordan partitions by Barry (Commun Algebra 43:4231–4246, 2015) to three parameters. Let \(J_r\) denote an \(r \times r\) matrix with minimal polynomial \((t-1)^r\) over a field F of characteristic p. For positive integers \(n_1\), \(n_2\), and \(n_3\) satisfying \(n_1 \le n_2 \le n_3\), the Jordan canonical form of the \(n_1 n_2 n_3 \times n_1 n_2 n_3\) matrix \(J_{n_1} \otimes J_{n_2} \otimes J_{n_3}\) has the form \(J_{\lambda _1} \oplus J_{\lambda _2} \oplus \cdots \oplus J_{\lambda _m}\) where \(\lambda _1 \ge \lambda _2 \ge \cdots \ge \lambda _m>0\) and \(\sum _{i=1}^m \lambda _i=n_1 n_2 n_3\). The partition \(\lambda (n_1,n_2,n_3:p)=(\lambda _1, \lambda _2,\ldots , \lambda _m)\) of \(n_1 n_2 n_3\), which depends on \(n_1\), \(n_2\), \(n_3\), and p, will be called a Jordan partition. We will define what we mean by a standard Jordan partition and give necessary and sufficient conditions for its existence.     

Stationary sets added when forcing squares

Current research in set theory raises the possibility that \(\square _{\kappa ,<\lambda }\) can be made compatible with some stationary reflection, depending on the parameter \(\lambda \). The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the difficulty in such results. We prove that the poset \({\mathbb {S}}(\kappa ,<\lambda )\), which adds a \(\square _{\kappa ,<\lambda }\)-sequence by initial segments, will also add non-reflecting stationary sets concentrating in any given cofinality below \(\kappa \). We also investigate the CMB poset, which adds \(\square _\kappa ^*\) in a slightly different way. We prove that the CMB poset also adds non-reflecting stationary sets, but not necessarily concentrating in any cofinality.     

Unitary Equivalence of Composition C$$^*$$-Algebras on the Hardy and Weighted Bergman Spaces

Let \(\varphi \) be an arbitrary linear-fractional self-map of the unit disk \({\mathbb {D}}\) and consider the composition operator \(C_{-1, \varphi }\) and the Toeplitz operator \(T_{-1,z}\) on the Hardy space \(H^2\) and the corresponding operators \(C_{\alpha , \varphi }\) and \(T_{\alpha , z}\) on the weighted Bergman spaces \(A^2_{\alpha }\) for \(\alpha >-1\). We prove that the unital C\(^*\)-algebra \(C^*(T_{\alpha , z}, C_{\alpha , \varphi })\) generated by \(T_{\alpha , z}\) and \(C_{\alpha , \varphi }\) is unitarily equivalent to \(C^*(T_{-1, z}, C_{-1, \varphi }),\) which extends a known result for automorphism-induced composition operators. For maps \(\varphi \) that are not automorphisms of \({\mathbb {D}}\), we show that \(C^*(C_{\alpha , \varphi }, {\mathcal {K}}_{\alpha })\) is unitarily equivalent to \(C^*(C_{-1, \varphi }, {\mathcal {K}}_{-1})\), where \({\mathcal {K}}_{\alpha }\) and \({\mathcal {K}}_{-1}\) denote the ideals of compact operators on \(A^2_{\alpha }\) and \(H^2\), respectively, and apply existing structure theorems for \(C^*(C_{-1, \varphi }, {\mathcal {K}}_{-1})/{\mathcal {K}}_{-1}\) to describe the structure of \(C^*(C_{\alpha , \varphi }, {\mathcal {K}}_{\alpha })/\mathcal {K_{\alpha }}\), up to isomorphism. We also establish a unitary equivalence between related weighted composition operators induced by maps \(\varphi \) that fix a point on the unit circle.     

Malcev products of unipotent monoids and varieties of bands

Let \(\mathcal{U}\) be the class of all unipotent monoids and \(\mathcal{B}\) the variety of all bands. We characterize the Malcev product \(\mathcal{U} \circ \mathcal{V}\) where \(\mathcal{V}\) is a subvariety of \(\mathcal{B}\) low in its lattice of subvarieties, \(\mathcal{B}\) itself and the subquasivariety \(\mathcal{S} \circ \mathcal{RB}\), where \(\mathcal{S}\) stands for semilattices and \(\mathcal{RB}\) for rectangular bands, in several ways including by a set of axioms. For members of some of them we describe the structure as well. This succeeds by using the relation \(\widetilde{\mathcal{H}}= \widetilde{\mathcal{L}} \cap \widetilde{\mathcal{R}}\), where \(a\;\,\widetilde{\mathcal{L}}\;\,b\) if and only if a and b have the same idempotent right identities, and \(\widetilde{\mathcal{R}}\) is its dual.We also consider \((\mathcal{U} \circ \mathcal{RB}) \circ \mathcal{S}\) which provides the motivation for this study since \((\mathcal{G} \circ \mathcal{RB}) \circ \mathcal{S}\) coincides with completely regular semigroups, where \(\mathcal{G}\) is the variety of all groups. All this amounts to a generalization of the latter: \(\mathcal{U}\) instead of \(\mathcal{G}\).     

Dynamics of Concentration in a Population Model Structured by Age and a Phenotypical Trait

In this paper, we consider the initial-boundary value problem of the two-species chemotaxis Keller-Segel model

$$\begin{aligned} \textstyle\begin{cases} u_{t}=\Delta u-\chi_{1}\nabla \cdot (u\nabla w), &x\in \varOmega , \ t>0, \\ v_{t}=\Delta v-\chi_{2}\nabla \cdot (v\nabla w), &x\in \varOmega , \ t>0, \\ 0=\Delta w-\gamma w+\alpha_{1}u+\alpha_{2}v, &x\in \varOmega , \ t>0, \end{cases}\displaystyle \end{aligned}$$

where the parameters \(\chi_{1}\), \(\chi_{2}\), \(\alpha_{1}\), \(\alpha_{2}\), \(\gamma \) are positive constants, \(\varOmega \subset \mathbb{R}^{2}\) is a bounded domain with smooth boundary. We obtain the results for finite time blow-up and global bounded as follows: (1) For any fixed \(x_{0}\in \varOmega \), if \(\chi_{1}\alpha_{2}= \chi_{2}\alpha_{1}\), \(\int_{\varOmega }(u_{0}+v_{0})|x-x_{0}|^{2}dx\) is sufficiently small, and \(\int_{\varOmega }(u_{0}+v_{0})dx>\frac{8\pi ( \chi_{1}\alpha_{1}+\chi_{2}\alpha_{2})}{\chi_{1}\alpha_{1}\chi_{2} \alpha_{2}}\), then the nonradial solution of the two-species Keller-Segel model blows up in finite time. Moreover, if \(\varOmega \) is a convex domain, we find a lower bound for the blow-up time; (2) If \(\|u_{0}\|_{L^{1}(\varOmega )}\) and \(\|v_{0}\|_{L^{1}( \varOmega )}\) lie below some thresholds, respectively, then the solution exists globally and remains bounded.

     

Generalized Joseph–Lundgren exponent and intersection properties for supercritical quasilinear elliptic equations

We study the solution \({u(r,\rho)}\) of the quasilinear elliptic problem

$$\begin{cases}r^{-(\gamma-1)}(r^{\alpha}|u'|^{\beta-1}u')'+|u|^{p-1}u=0, & 0 < r < \infty, \\u(0)=\rho > 0,\ u'(0)=0.\end{cases}$$

The usual Laplace, \({m}\)-Laplace, and \({k}\)-Hessian operators are included in the differential operator \({r^{-(\gamma-1)}(r^{\alpha}|u'|^{\beta-1}u')'}\). Under certain conditions on \({\alpha}\), \({\beta}\), \({\gamma}\), and \({p}\), the equation has a singular positive solution \({u^*(r)}\) and the solution \({u(r,\rho)}\) is positive for \({r\ge 0}\). We study the intersection numbers between \({u(r,\rho)}\) and \({u^*(r)}\) and between \({u(r,\rho_0)}\) and \({u(r,\rho_1)}\). A generalized Joseph–Lundgren exponent \({p^*_{JL}}\) plays a crucial role. The main technique is a phase plane analysis. In particular, we use two changes of variables which transform the equation into two autonomous systems.

     

The Finite Hankel Transform Operator: Some Explicit and Local Estimates of the Eigenfunctions and Eigenvalues Decay Rates

For fixed real numbers \(c>0,\)\(\alpha >-\frac{1}{2},\) the finite Hankel transform operator, denoted by \(\mathcal {H}_c^{\alpha }\) is given by the integral operator defined on \(L^2(0,1)\) with kernel \(K_{\alpha }(x,y)= \sqrt{c xy} J_{\alpha }(cxy).\) To the operator \(\mathcal {H}_c^{\alpha },\) we associate a positive, self-adjoint compact integral operator \(\mathcal Q_c^{\alpha }=c\, \mathcal {H}_c^{\alpha }\, \mathcal {H}_c^{\alpha }.\) Note that the integral operators \(\mathcal {H}_c^{\alpha }\) and \(\mathcal Q_c^{\alpha }\) commute with a Sturm-Liouville differential operator \(\mathcal D_c^{\alpha }.\) In this paper, we first give some useful estimates and bounds of the eigenfunctions \(\varphi ^{(\alpha )}_{n,c}\) of \(\mathcal H_c^{\alpha }\) or \(\mathcal Q_c^{\alpha }.\) These estimates and bounds are obtained by using some special techniques from the theory of Sturm-Liouville operators, that we apply to the differential operator \(\mathcal D_c^{\alpha }.\) If \((\mu _{n,\alpha }(c))_n\) and \(\lambda _{n,\alpha }(c)=c\, |\mu _{n,\alpha }(c)|^2\) denote the infinite and countable sequence of the eigenvalues of the operators \(\mathcal {H}_c^{(\alpha )}\) and \(\mathcal Q_c^{\alpha },\) arranged in the decreasing order of their magnitude, then we show an unexpected result that for a given integer \(n\ge 0,\)\(\lambda _{n,\alpha }(c)\) is decreasing with respect to the parameter \(\alpha .\) As a consequence, we show that for \(\alpha \ge \frac{1}{2},\) the \(\lambda _{n,\alpha }(c)\) and the \(\mu _{n,\alpha }(c)\) have a super-exponential decay rate. Also, we give a lower decay rate of these eigenvalues. As it will be seen, the previous results are essential tools for the analysis of a spectral approximation scheme based on the eigenfunctions of the finite Hankel transform operator. Some numerical examples will be provided to illustrate the results of this work.