Unique continuation properties for relativistic Schrödinger operators with a singular potential (Q255571)

In this article the authors discuss unique continuation properties of relativistic Schrödinger equations with scaling critical singular potentials \[ \begin{aligned} (-\Delta + m)^s u - \frac{a(\frac{x}{|x|})}{|x|^{2s}} u - h(x) u = 0, \end{aligned} \] where \(m\geq 0\), \(a\in C^1(S^{n-1})\) and \(h\) is a \(C^{1}(\Omega \setminus \{0\})\) subcritical potential. It is shown that equations of this type can be reformulated as Dirichlet-to-Neumann maps of extension problems similar as the Caffarelli-Silvestre extension [\textit{L. Caffarelli} and \textit{L. Silvestre}, Commun. Partial Differ. Equations 32, No. 8, 1245--1260 (2007; Zbl 1143.26002)]. With this at hand, the authors provide asymptotic expansions for the function \(u\) in terms of eigenfunctions to the extended spherical operator: \[ \begin{aligned} -\nabla_{S^{n-1}}\cdot (\theta_1^{1-2s} \nabla_{S^{n-1}}\psi) &= \mu \theta_1^{1-2s} \psi \text{ in } S_+^{n},\\ -\lim\limits_{\theta_1 \rightarrow 0} \theta_1^{1-2s} \nabla_{S^{n-1}}\psi \cdot e_1& = \kappa_s a(\theta')\psi \text{ on } \partial S^n_+, \end{aligned} \] where \(\kappa_s\) is an only \(s\)-dependent constant. To this end they rely on the introduction of a modified Almgren frequency function and blow-up arguments. The strong unique continuation property is then deduced as a direct consequence of the asymptotic expansion in terms of eigenfunctions.