On the number of negative eigenvalues of an elliptic operator (Q388128)

An upper bound for the number of negative eigenvalues of an elliptic operator is established. The operator is \(L=L_0-V\) where \(V \geq 0\) is a potential defined on the half space \(\mathbb{R}^n_+=\{(x',x_n)\in \mathbb{R}^{n-1}\times[0,\infty)\}\) with \(V \in L^{q_1}(\mathbb{R}^n_+)\) for some \(q_1>1\) and \(V(x',x_n)=0\) if \(|x'|>R\) and \(L_0\) is a symmetric, strictly positive, linear differential operator of order \(2m>n\) with real, measurable coefficients. \(L\) is defined on the completion of \(C_0^\infty(\mathbb{R}^n)\) (restricted to \(\mathbb{R}^n_+\)) in the Sobolev norm; also the following Robin boundary conditions are imposed. \[ \sum_{|\alpha| \leq 2m-1}b_\alpha(x') D^{\alpha}u(x) -W(x')u(x) =0 \text{ for } x_n =0 \] \[ \frac{\partial u}{\partial x_n}= \frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial x_n^2}= \dots = \frac{\partial^{m-1} u}{\partial x_n^{m-1}}=0 \text{ for } x_n =0 \] for some \(b_\alpha \in C^\infty(\partial \mathbb{R}^n_+)\) and \(0 \leq W \in L^{q}(\mathbb{R}^{n-1})\) for \(q>1\). The main result is that the number of negative eigenvalues of \(L\) is bounded by \[ C_1\left(\int_{\mathbb{R}_n^+}V(x)^{q_1}|x|^{2mq_1-n}\,dx+1\right) +C_2\int_{\partial\mathbb{R}_n^+}W(x')^{q}|x|^{(2m-1)q-n+1}\,dx'+K \] where \(C_1\) and \(C_2\) depend only on \(m\) and \(n\) and \(K = c_n|\{\alpha \in \mathbb{N}^n: |\alpha| < m-(n/2)\}|\) for some \(c_n>0\). This work continues the paper [\textit{Yu. V. Egorov} and \textit{M. El Aïdi}, Publ. Mat., Barc. 45, No. 1, 125--148 (2001; Zbl 0984.35117)] where the case \(n>2m\) is considered. The proof relies on Glazman's Lemma which is comparable to the Courant minimax principle.