Continuous spectrum and square-integrable solutions of differential operators with intermediate deficiency index

We explore the connection between square-integrable solutions for real-values of the spectral parameter λ and the continuous spectrum of self-adjoint ordinary differential operators with arbitrary deficiency index d. We show that if, for all λ in an open interval I, there are d of linearly independent square-integrable solutions, then for every extension of Dmin the point spectrum is nowhere dense in I, and there is a self-adjoint extension of Smin which has no continuous spectrum in I. This analysis is based on our construction of limit-point (LP) and limit-circle (LC) solutions obtained recently in an earlier paper.     

The spectrum of differential operators and square-integrable solutions

We give a comprehensive account of the relationship between the square-integrable solutions for real values of the spectral parameter λ and the spectrum of self-adjoint even order ordinary differential operators with real coefficients and arbitrary deficiency index d and we solve an open problem stated by Weidmann in his well-known 1987 monograph. According to a well-known result, if one endpoint is regular and for some real value of the spectral parameter λ the number of linearly independent square-integrable solutions is less than d, then λ is in the essential spectrum of every self-adjoint realization of the equation. Weidmann extends this result to the two singular endpoint case provided an additional condition is satisfied. Here we prove this result without the additional condition.     

The classification of self-adjoint boundary conditions: Separated, coupled, and mixed

There are three basic types of self-adjoint regular and singular boundary conditions: separated, coupled, and mixed. For even order problems with real coefficients, one regular endpoint and arbitrary deficiency index d, we give a construction for each type and determine the number of possible conditions of each type under the assumption that there are d linearly independent square-integrable solutions for some real value of the spectral parameter. In the separated case our construction yields non-real conditions for all orders greater than two. It is well known that no such conditions exist in the second order case. Our construction gives a direct alternative to the recent construction of Everitt and Markus which uses the theory of symplectic spaces. We believe our construction will prove useful in the spectral analysis of these operators and in obtaining canonical forms of self-adjoint boundary conditions. Such forms are known only in the second order, i.e. Sturm-Liouville, case. Even for regular problems of order four no such forms are available.     

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.     

Symmetric operators with real defect subspaces of the maximal dimension. Applications to differential operators

Let H be a Hilbert space and let A be a simple symmetric operator in H with equal deficiency indices d:=n_±(A)<∞. We show that if, for all λ in an open interval I⊂R, the dimension of defect subspaces Nλ(A) (=Ker(A^?−λ)) coincides with d, then every self-adjoint extension has no continuous spectrum in I and the point spectrum of is nowhere dense in I. Application of this statement to differential operators makes it possible to generalize the known results by Weidmann to the case of an ordinary differential expression with both singular endpoints and arbitrary equal deficiency indices of the minimal operator.     

Weyl-Titchmarsh functions of vector-valued Sturm-Liouville operators on the unit interval

The matrix-valued Weyl-Titchmarsh functions M(λ) of vector-valued Sturm-Liouville operators on the unit interval with the Dirichlet boundary conditions are considered. The collection of the eigenvalues (i.e., poles of M(λ)) and the residues of M(λ) is called the spectral data of the operator. The complete characterization of spectral data (or, equivalently, N×N Weyl-Titchmarsh functions) corresponding to N×N self-adjoint square-integrable matrix-valued potentials is given, if all N eigenvalues of the averaged potential are distinct.     

The existence of matrices with prescribed characteristic and permanental polynomials

Let d(λ) and p(λ) be monic polynomials of degree n?2 with coefficients in F, an algebraically closed field or the field of all real numbers. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of an n-square matrix A over F such that det(λI?A)=d(λ) and per(λI?A=p(λ) are given in terms of the coefficients of d(λ) and p(λ).     

The classification of self-adjoint boundary conditions of differential operators with two singular endpoints

For general even order linear ordinary differential equations with real coefficients and endpoints which are regular or singular and for arbitrary deficiency index d, the self-adjoint domains are determined by d linearly independent boundary conditions. These conditions are of three types: separated, coupled, and mixed. We give a construction for all conditions of each type and determine the number of conditions of each type possible for a given self-adjoint domain. Our construction gives a direct alternative to the recent construction of Everitt and Markus which uses the theory of symplectic spaces. We believe our construction will prove useful in the spectral analysis of these operators and in obtaining canonical forms of self-adjoint boundary conditions. Such forms are known only in the second order, i.e. Sturm-Liouville, case. Even for regular problems of order four no such forms are available. In the case when all d conditions are separated this construction yields explicit non-real conditions for all orders greater than two. It is well known that no such conditions exist in the second order case.     

Multiplicity of the spectrum of a self-adjoint ordinary differential operator of odd order

A bound is obtained for the multiplicity of the spectrum of the self-adjoint operator generated by a singular ordinary differential operator? of odd order in the Hubert space ?² in terms of solutions of the differential equation?[y]=λy.     

Spectral theory of discontinuous functions of self-adjoint operators and scattering theory

In the smooth scattering theory framework, we consider a pair of self-adjoint operators H₀, H and discuss the spectral projections of these operators corresponding to the interval (−∞,λ). The purpose of the paper is to study the spectral properties of the difference D(λ) of these spectral projections. We completely describe the absolutely continuous spectrum of the operator D(λ) in terms of the eigenvalues of the scattering matrix S(λ) for the operators H₀ and H. We also prove that the singular continuous spectrum of the operator D(λ) is empty and that its eigenvalues may accumulate only at “thresholds” in the absolutely continuous spectrum.     

Mourre's inequality and embedded bound states

A self-adjoint operator H with an eigenvalue λ embedded in the continuum spectrum is considered. Boundedness of all operators of the form AnP is proved, where P is the eigenprojection associated with λ and A is any self-adjoint operator satisfying Mourre's inequality in a neighborhood of λ and such that the higher commutators of H with A up to order n+2 are relatively bounded with respect to H.     

Estimates of the discrete spectrum of a linear operator pencil

Based on the direct methods of the perturbation theory, sufficient conditions for the finiteness of the discrete spectrum of linear pencils of the form L(λ)=B−λA, where A and B are bounded self-adjoint operators, are established. An estimate formula for the discrete spectrum is also presented. As applications, we study the spectrum of the characteristic equation of radiation energy transfer.     

Elementary localization theorems for nonlinear eigenproblems

The minimax formula for linear eigenvalues of a linear operator is used to estimate the parameter values (λ) for which the self-adjoint operator L(λ) on Hilbert space to itself fails to have a bounded inverse. Such λ compose the “nonlinear spectrum” of L. The parameter spaces include regions in real or complex n-space. The localization theorems are used to demonstrate certain necessary conditions for stability of linear integro-partial-differential delay equations.     

Exponential families of mixed Poisson distributions

If I=(I₁,…,I_d) is a random variable on [0,∞)^d with distribution μ(dλ₁,…,dλ_d), the mixed Poisson distribution MP(μ) on N^d is the distribution of (N₁(I₁),…,N_d(I_d)) where N₁,…,N_d are ordinary independent Poisson processes which are also independent of I. The paper proves that if F is a natural exponential family on [0,∞)^d then MP(F) is also a natural exponential family if and only if a generating probability of F is the distribution of v₀+v₁Y₁+?+v_qY_q for some q?d, for some vectors v₀,…,v_q of [0,∞)^d with disjoint supports and for independent standard real gamma random variables Y₁,…,Y_q.     

Singular continuous Floquet operator for systems with increasing gaps

Consider the Floquet operator of a time-independent quantum system, periodically perturbed by a rank one kick, acting on a separable Hilbert space: e^−iH₀Te^{−iκT|φ〉〈φ|}, where T and κ are the period and the coupling constant, respectively. Assume the spectrum of the self-adjoint operator H₀ is pure point, simple, bounded from below and the gaps between the eigenvalues (λ_n) grow like λ_n+1−λ_n∼Cn^d with d?2. Under some hypotheses on the arithmetical nature of the eigenvalues and the vector φ, cyclic for H₀, we prove the Floquet operator of the perturbed system has purely singular continuous spectrum.     

On Parameter Depending Differential Systems Under Carathéodory Conditions

For every λ in a complex domain G, consider on some interval I the initial value problem y′(λ,x) = A(λ,x)y(λ,x) + b(λ,x), y(λ,x₀) - y₀. If this problem satisfies the Carathéodory conditions for every A, then there exist locally absolutely continuous and almost everywhere differentiable solutions y(λ,· ) of the initial value problem. In general, the union N of the exceptional sets N _λ ? I where y(λ, ·) is not differentiate or does not fulfill the differential equation, is not of Lebesgue measure zero. It will be shown that N is of Lebesgue measure zero provided that A and b are holomorphic with respect to λ and their integrals with respect to x are locally bounded on G × I.     

A New Asymptotic Perturbation Theory with Applications to Models of Massless Quantum Fields

Let H ₀ and H _I be a self-adjoint and a symmetric operator on a complex Hilbert space, respectively, and suppose that H ₀ is bounded below and the infimum E ₀ of the spectrum of H ₀ is a simple eigenvalue of H ₀ which is not necessarily isolated. In this paper, we present a new asymptotic perturbation theory for an eigenvalue E(λ) of the operator ${H(\lambda)\,:=\,H_0 + \lambda H_{I}\,(\lambda \in \mathbb{R} \setminus \{0\})}$ satisfying lim _{λ → 0} E(λ) = E ₀. The point of the theory is in that it covers also the case where E ₀ is a non-isolated eigenvalue of H ₀. Under a suitable set of assumptions, we derive an asymptotic expansion of E(λ) up to an arbitrary finite order of λ as λ → 0. We apply the abstract results to a model of massless quantum fields, called the generalized spin-boson model (Arai and Hirokawa in J Funct Anal 151:455–503, 1997) and show that the ground-state energy of the model has asymptotic expansions in the coupling constant λ as λ → 0.     

Generalized Kato decomposition, single-valued extension property and approximate point spectrum

In this paper, we define the generalized Kato spectrum of an operator, and obtain that the generalized Kato spectrum differs from the semi-regular spectrum on at most countably many points. We study the localized version of the single-valued extension property at the points which are not limit points of the approximate point spectrum, as well as of the surjectivity spectrum. In particular, we shall characterize the single-valued extension property at a point λ₀∈C in the case that λ₀I−T admits a generalized Kato decomposition. From this characterization we shall deduce several results on cluster points of some distinguished parts of the spectrum.     

Initial-boundary problem for the 1-D Euler-Boltzmann equations in radiation hydrodynamics

We study the initial-boundary value problem for the one dimensional EulerBoltzmann equation with reflection boundary condition. For initial data with small total variation, we use a modified Glimm scheme to construct the global approximate solutions(U_(△t,d), I_(△t,d)) and prove that there is a subsequence of the approximate solutions which is convergent to the global solution.