Projection Methods for Discrete Schrodinger Operators

Let H be the discrete Schrödinger operator acting on l² Z⁺, where the potential v is real-valued and v(n) 0 as n . Let P be the orthogonal projection onto a closedlinear subspace l² Z⁺). In a recent paper E. B. Davies definesthe second order spectrum Spec₂(H, ) of H relative to as theset of z C such that the restriction to of the operator P(H- z)²P is not invertible within the space . The purpose of thisarticle is to investigate properties of Spec₂(H, ) when islarge but finite dimensional. We explore in particular the connectionbetween this set and the spectrum of H. Our main result providessharp bounds in terms of the potential v for the asymptoticbehaviour of Spec₂(H, ) as increases towards l² Z⁺). 2000 MathematicsSubject Classification 47B36 (primary), 47B39, 81-08 (secondary).