Basis property of eigenfunctions of nonselfadjoint operator pencils generated by the equation of nonhomogeneous damped string

We consider a class of nonselfadjoint quadratic operator pencils generated by the equation, which governs the vibrations of a string with nonconstant bounded density subject to viscous damping with a nonconstant damping coefficient. These pencils depend on a complex parameterh, which enters the boundary conditions. Depending on the values ofh, the eigenvalues of the above pencils may describe the resonances in the scattering of elastic waves on an infinite string or the eingenmodes of a finite string. We obtain the 7asymptotic representations for these eigenvalues. Assuming that the proper multiplicity of each eigenvalue is equal to one, we prove that the eigenfunctions of these pencils form Riesz bases in the weightedL ²-space, whose weight function is exactly the density of the string. The general case of multiple eigenvalues will be treated in another paper, based on the results of the present work.