The Abstract Titchmarsh-Weyl M-function for Adjoint Operator Pairs and its Relation to the Spectrum

In the setting of adjoint pairs of operators we consider the question: to what extent does the Weyl M-function see the same singularities as the resolvent of a certain restriction A_B of the maximal operator? We obtain results showing that it is possible to describe explicitly certain spaces and such that the resolvent bordered by projections onto these subspaces is analytic everywhere that the M-function is analytic. We present three examples – one involving a Hain-Lüst type operator, one involving a perturbed Friedrichs operator and one involving a simple ordinary differential operators on a half line – which together indicate that the abstract results are probably best possible. James Hinchcliffe and Serguei Naboko wish to thank the British EPSRC for financial support under grant EP/C008324/1 “Spectral Problems on Families of Domains and Operator M-functions”. Serguei Naboko wishes to thank the Russian RFBR for grant 06-01-00219. All authors wish to thank INTAS for financial support under INTAS Project No. 051000008-7883. The authors wish to thank the referee for many helpful comments.