Asymptotic analysis of a singular Sturm-Liouville boundary value problem

Asymptotic expansions are given for the eigenvalues λ_n and eigenfunctions u_n of the following singular Sturm-Liouville problem with indefinite weight: $$\begin{gathered} - ((1 - x^2 )u'(x))' = \lambda xu(x) on ( - 1,1), \hfill \\ lim_{| x | \to 1} u(x) finite \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ This eigenvalue problem arises if one separates variables in a partial differential equation which describes electron scattering in a one-dimensional slab configuration. Asymptotic expansions of the normalization constants of the eigenfunctions are also given. The constants in these asymptotic expansions involve complete elliptic integrals. The asymptotic results are compared with the results of numerical calculations.