Asymptotics of eigenvalues of the Schrödinger operator with a strong \(\delta\)-interaction on a loop (Q1602448)

Historically, the routine studies of quantum systems in one dimension found an interesting sophistication in two different directions. In one of them, superpositions of the Dirac delta-function potentials have been found to provide a sufficiently flexible class of the solvable models (cf., e.g., the book [\textit{S. Albeverio, F. Gesztesy, R. Høegh-Krohn} and \textit{H. Holden}, Solvable Models in Quantum Mechanics, Springer, Heidelberg (1988; Zbl 0679.46057)]). In the other, mathematically equally challenging context, people imagined that many phenomenologically relevant quasi-one-dimensional, wire-shaped systems (i.e., domains on which the quantized particle resides) may be smooth but thick (so that one has to return to the old books on classical electrodynamics and study the so called quantum wave-guides) and, in principle, curved (so that the curvature itself starts playing the role of another type of an effective potential - cf. e.g., \textit{P. Exner} and \textit{T. Ichinose} [J. Phys. A, Math. Gen. 34, No. 7, 1439--1450 (2001; Zbl 1002.81024)] for more references). In a combination of these two tendencies, the work with an infinitely thin quantum wire may profit from the efficiency of the weak-coupling techniques as reviewed, e.g., in [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 184, No. 1, 112--139 (1994; Zbl 0820.47005)]. In such a setting, the paper in question offers another approach (basically, the Dirichlet-Neumann bracketing) which becomes efficient in the strong-coupling regime. In particular, the authors get (and prove, rigorously) an asymptotic formula for the \(n\)-th eigenvalue (which exists and decreases, quadratically, with the strength of the ``attraction'' at any \(n)\) and for the number of the (negative) eigenvalues (with a linear growth and with a logarithmic error estimate). It is worth noting that the project itself is far from being in its final stage: very recently there appeared new results (by the partially overlapping groups of authors) on the wires with points of an infinite curvature [cf. \textit{E. N. Bulgakov, P. Exner, K. N. Pichugin| and \textit{A. F. Sadreev}, Phys. Rev. B 66, 6265 (2002), see also cond-mat/0206397] and on the non-planar surface motion in three dimensions (cf. the paper on the curved-surface-supported delta interaction in [\textit{P. Exner} and \textit{S. J. Kondej}, J. Phys. A, Math. Gen. 36, No. 2, 443--457 (2003; Zbl 1050.81009), math-ph/0207025] which offers a generalization of some of the present techniques and results).}