A criterion for absolute continuity of the continuous spectrum of a Hamiltonian system (Q1813494): Difference between revisions

The author considers the system of ordinary differential equations (*) \(Jy'(x)=[\lambda A(x)+B(x)]y(x)\), \(a\leq x<\infty\). Here \(y(x)\) is a \(2k\times 1\) vector; \(\lambda\) is a complex scalar; \(J\) is a matrix whose first row has entries \(0\), \(-l_ k\) and whose second row has entries \(l_ k\), \(0\), where \(l_ k\) is the \(k\times k\) identity; \(A(x)\) and \(B(x)\) are \(2k\times 2k\) Hermitian matrices with locally integrable entries on \([a,\infty)\); \(A(x)\geq 0\), and for a nontrivial solution of (*), \(\int^ x_ a y^*(t)A(t)y(t)dt>0\) for \(x>0\). Let \(Y(x,\lambda)\) be a \(2k\times 2k\) fundamental matrix of (*) with \(k\times k\) subblocks \(\theta(x,\lambda)\), \(\phi(x,\lambda)\) in the first row and \(k\times k\) subblocks \(\hat\theta(x,\lambda)\), \(\hat\phi(x,\lambda)\) in the second row. Let \(M(\lambda,b)=-[\beta_ 1\phi(b,\lambda)+\beta_ 2\hat\phi(b,\lambda)]^ {-1}[\beta_ 1\theta(b,\lambda)+\beta_ 2\hat\theta (b,\lambda]\), where \(\beta_ 1\) and \(\beta_ 2\) are \(k\times k\) matrices of complex constants which are chosen so that (*) defines a regular and self-adjoint boundary problem on \([a,b]\). Assume that as \(b\to\infty\), \(M(\lambda,b)\) approaches a matrix \(M(\lambda)\). (In this case system (*) is said to be limit point at \(\infty\).) \(M(\lambda)\) has the integral representation \[ M(\lambda)=A+\lambda B+\int^ \infty_{-\infty}[(\mu-\lambda)^{-1}-\mu(1+\mu^ 2)^{- 1}]d\rho(\mu). \] The behavior of \(\rho(\mu)\) is related to the spectrum of a Hilbert space operator defined by (*). The author proves various theorems on the differentiability of \(\rho(\mu)\), such as the following: Let \(\{x_ n\}\) denote a sequence of real numbers tending to \(\infty\), and let \(\{K_ n(\xi)\}\) denote a sequence of \(k\times k\) matrix valued functions all of which are positive definite on \((\Lambda_ 1,\Lambda_ 2)\). Suppose that for each \(\xi\in(\Lambda_ 1,\Lambda_ 1)\) there is an interval \(\Delta\) containing \(\xi\) and that there are positive constants \(B_ 1\), \(B_ 2\) and \(B_ 3\) such that for \(\mu\in\Delta\), \(\phi^*(x_ n,\mu)K_ n^{-1}(\mu)\phi(x_ n,\mu)+\hat\phi^*(x_ n,\mu)K_ n(\mu)\hat\phi( x_ n,\mu)>B_ 1l\) and \(B_ 2l<K_ n^{- 1/2}(\mu)K_ n(\xi)K_ n^{-1/2}(\mu)<B_ 3l\). Then, the entries of \(\rho(\mu)\) are absolutely continuous on \((\Lambda_ 1,\Lambda_ 2)\). The above approach for studying the absolutely continuous spectrum has the advantage that it does not require a derivation of asymptotics for the solutions of the differential equation.