Spectral stability of general non-negative self-adjoint operators with applications to Neumann-type operators

We prove a stability theorem for the eigenvalues of general non-negative self-adjoint linear operators with compact resolvents and by applying it we prove a sharp stability result for the dependence of the eigenvalues of second order uniformly elliptic linear operators with homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions upon domain perturbation.     

Characterization of domains of self-adjoint ordinary differential operators

The GKN (Glazman, Krein, Naimark) Theorem characterizes all self-adjoint realizations of linear symmetric (formally self-adjoint) ordinary differential equations in terms of maximal domain functions. These functions depend on the coefficients and this dependence is implicit and complicated. In the regular case an explicit characterization in terms of two-point boundary conditions can be given. In the singular case when the deficiency index d is maximal the GKN characterization can be made more explicit by replacing the maximal domain functions by a solution basis for any real or complex value of the spectral parameter λ. In the much more difficult intermediate cases, not all solutions contribute to the singular self-adjoint conditions. In 1986 Sun found a representation of the self-adjoint singular conditions in terms of certain solutions for nonreal values of λ. In this paper we give a representation in terms of certain solutions for real λ. This leads to a classification of solutions as limit-point (LP) or limit-circle (LC) in analogy with the celebrated Weyl classification in the second-order case. The LC solutions contribute to the singular boundary conditions, the LP solutions do not. The advantage of using real λ is not only because it is, in general, easier to find explicit solutions but, more importantly, it yields information about the spectrum.     

A reproducing kernel thesis for operators on Bergman-type function spaces

In this paper we consider the reproducing kernel thesis for boundedness and compactness for various operators on Bergman-type spaces. In particular, the results in this paper apply to the weighted Bergman space on the unit ball, the unit polydisc and more generally to weighted Fock spaces.     

Spectral theory for perturbed Krein Laplacians in nonsmooth domains

We study spectral properties for HK,Ω, the Krein-von Neumann extension of the perturbed Laplacian −Δ+V defined on , where V is measurable, bounded and nonnegative, in a bounded open set Ω⊂Rn belonging to a class of nonsmooth domains which contains all convex domains, along with all domains of class C1,r, r>1/2. In particular, in the aforementioned context we establish the Weyl asymptotic formula

     

Zero products of Toeplitz operators with harmonic symbols

On the Bergman space of the unit ball in Cⁿ, we solve the zero-product problem for two Toeplitz operators with harmonic symbols that have continuous extensions to (some part of) the boundary. In the case where symbols have Lipschitz continuous extensions to the boundary, we solve the zero-product problem for multiple products with the number of factors depending on the dimension n of the underlying space; the number of factors is n+3. We also prove a local version of this result but with loss of a factor.     

On semibounded restrictions of self-adjoint operators

After the von Neumann's remark [10] about pathologies of unbounded symmetric operators and an abstract theorem about stability domain [9], we develope here a general theory allowing to construct semibounded restrictions of selfadjoint operators in explicit form. We apply this theory to quantum-mechanical momentum (position) operator to describe corresponding stability domains. Generalization to the case of measurable functions of these operators is considered. In conclusion we discuss spectral properties of self-adjoint extensions of constructed self-adjoint restrictions.     

Sharp upper bounds on the number of the scattering poles

We study the scattering poles of a compactly supported “black box” perturbations of the Laplacian in Rⁿ, n odd. We prove a sharp upper bound of the counting function N(r) modulo o(rⁿ) in terms of the counting function of the reference operator in the smallest ball around the black box. In the most interesting cases, we prove a bound of the type N(r)?A_nrⁿ+o(rⁿ) with an explicit A_n. We prove that this bound is sharp in a few special spherically symmetric cases where the bound turns into an asymptotic formula.     

Anti-selfdual Lagrangians II: unbounded non self-adjoint operators and evolution equations

New variational principles based on the concept of anti-selfdual (ASD) Lagrangians were recently introduced in “AIHP-Analyse non linéaire, 2006”. We continue here the program of using such Lagrangians to provide variational formulations and resolutions to various basic equations and evolutions which do not normally fit in the Euler-Lagrange framework. In particular, we consider stationary boundary value problems of the form as well ass dissipative initial value evolutions of the form where is a convex potential on an infinite dimensional space, A is a linear operator and is any scalar. The framework developed in the above mentioned paper reformulates these problems as and respectively, where is an “ASD” vector field derived from a suitable Lagrangian L. In this paper, we extend the domain of application of this approach by establishing existence and regularity results under much less restrictive boundedness conditions on the anti-selfdual Lagrangian L so as to cover equations involving unbounded operators. Our main applications deal with various nonlinear boundary value problems and parabolic initial value equations governed by transport operators with or without a diffusion term. Nassif Ghoussoub research was partially supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The author gratefully acknowledges the hospitality and support of the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques in Montréal where this work was initiated. Leo Tzou’s research was partially supported by a doctoral postgraduate scholarship from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

Fredholm differential operators with unbounded coefficients

We prove that a first-order linear differential operator G with unbounded operator coefficients is Fredholm on spaces of functions on with values in a reflexive Banach space if and only if the corresponding strongly continuous evolution family has exponential dichotomies on both and and a pair of the ranges of the dichotomy projections is Fredholm, and that the Fredholm index of G is equal to the Fredholm index of the pair. The operator G is the generator of the evolution semigroup associated with the evolution family. In the case when the evolution family is the propagator of a well-posed differential equation u′(t)=A(t)u(t) with, generally, unbounded operators , the operator G is a closure of the operator . Thus, this paper provides a complete infinite-dimensional generalization of well-known finite-dimensional results by Palmer, and by Ben-Artzi and Gohberg.     

Spectral stability of Dirichlet second order uniformly elliptic operators

We prove sharp stability results for the dependence of the eigenvalues of second order uniformly elliptic linear operators with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions upon domain perturbation.     

Global bifurcation for equations involving nonhomogeneous operators in an unbounded domain

We study the structure of the set of solutions of a nonlinear equation involving nonhomogeneous operators:

     

Global solvability for first order real linear partial differential operators

F. Treves, in [17], using a notion of convexity of sets with respect to operators due to B. Malgrange and a theorem of C. Harvey, characterized globally solvable linear partial differential operators on C^∞(X), for an open subset X of Rn.Let P=L+c be a linear partial differential operator with real coefficients on a C^∞ manifold X, where L is a vector field and c is a function. If L has no critical points, J. Duistermaat and L. Hörmander, in [2], proved five equivalent conditions for global solvability of P on C^∞(X).Based on Harvey-Treves's result we prove sufficient conditions for the global solvability of P on C^∞(X), in the spirit of geometrical Duistermaat-Hörmander's characterizations, when L is zero at precisely one point. For this case, additional non-resonance type conditions on the value of c at the equilibrium point are necessary.     

Interval analysis techniques for boundary value problems of elasticity in two dimensions

In this paper we prove that the L² spectral radius of the traction double layer potential operator associated with the Lamé system on an infinite sector in R² is within 10⁻² from a certain conjectured value which depends explicitly on the aperture of the sector and the Lamé moduli of the system. This type of result is relevant to the spectral radius conjecture, cf., e.g., Problem 3.2.12 in [C.E. Kenig, Harmonic Analysis Techniques for Second Order Elliptic Boundary Value Problems, CBMS Reg. Conf. Ser. Math., vol. 83, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 1994]. The techniques employed in the paper are a blend of classical tools such as Mellin transforms, and Calderón-Zygmund theory, as well as interval analysis—resulting in a computer-aided proof.     

Toeplitz operators with frequency modulated semi-almost periodic symbols

It is well known that amplitude modulation does not affect Fredholmness of Toeplitz operators. The same is true for frequency modulation provided the symbol of the operator is piecewise continuous. In this article, it is shown that frequency modulation can destroy Fredholmness for Toeplitz operators with almost periodic symbols; the corresponding example is based on the observation that certain almost periodic functions become semi-almost periodic functions after appropriate frequency modulation. Moreover, this article contains several results that can be employed in order to decide whether a Toeplitz operator with a frequency modulated semi-almost periodic symbol is Fredholm.     

On nonnegative solvability of linear operator equations

LetE be a Banach lattice having order continuous norm. Suppose, moreover,T is a nonnegative reducible operator having a compact iterate and which mapsE into itself. The purpose of this work is to extend the previous results of the authors, concerning nonnegative solvability of (kernel) operator equations on generalL ^p-spaces. In particular, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the operator equation x=T x+y to possess a nonnegative solutionxE wherey is a given nonnegative and nontrivial element ofE and is any given positive parameter.     

Geometric Arveson–Douglas conjecture

We prove the Arveson–Douglas essential normality conjecture for graded Hilbert submodules that consist of functions vanishing on a given homogeneous subvariety of the ball, smooth away from the origin. Our main tool is the theory of generalized Toeplitz operators of Boutet de Monvel and Guillemin.     

Eigenvalues for radially symmetric fully nonlinear singular or degenerate operators

In this paper we present a one dimensional and radial theory for the existence of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions for fully nonlinear elliptic (α+1)$(\alpha +1)$-homogeneous operators, α>−1$\alpha >-1$. A general theory for the first eigenvalue and eigenfunction exists in the frame of viscosity solutions, but in this particular case a simpler theory can be established, that extends, via degree theory, to obtain the complete set of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions characterized by the number of zeros.