On the Bethe-Sommerfeld conjecture for higher-order elliptic operators

 We consider the elliptic operator P(D)+V in ℝ ^d , d≥2 where P(D) is a constant coefficient elliptic pseudo-differential operator of order 2ℓ with a homogeneous convex symbol P(ξ), and V is a real periodic function in L ^∞(ℝ ^d ). We show that the number of gaps in the spectrum of P(D)+V is finite if 4ℓ>d+1. If in addition, V is smooth and the convex hypersurface {ξℝ ^d :P(ξ)=1} has positive Gaussian curvature everywhere, then the number of gaps in the spectrum of P(D)+V is finite, provided 8ℓ>d+3 and 9≥d≥2, or 4ℓ>d−3 and d≥10. Received: 10 October 2001 / Published online: 28 March 2003 Mathematics Subject Classification (1991): 35J10 Research supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-9732894.