Non-variational approximation of discrete eigenvalues of self-adjoint operators

^** Email: L.Boulton{at}ma.hw.ac.uk We establish sufficient conditions for approximation of discreteeigenvalues of self-adjoint operators in the second-order projectionmethod suggested recently in Levitin & Shargorodsky (2004,Spectral pollution and second order relative spectra for self-adjointoperators. IMA J. Numer. Anal., 24, 393–416). We findfairly explicit estimates for the eigenvalue error and studyin detail two concrete model examples. Our results show thatsecond-order projection strategies not only are universallypollution free but also achieve approximation under naturalconditions on the discretising basis.