A trace formula for multidimensional Schrödinger operators (Q1816719)

Let \(H=-\Delta+V\) be a Schrödinger operator on \(\mathbb{R}^\nu\). This paper gives several generalizations of a trace formula already known in one dimension and of the type: \[ \text{Tr} \Biggl(\sum^N_{j=1}\pm e^{-tH_j} \Biggr)=1-tV(x)= o(t),\qquad (t\searrow 0), \] where the \(H_j\) are various realizations of \(H\) associated to different (\(x\)-dependent) boundary conditions. As an example, it is proved that if \(V\) is continuous, then \[ \sum_{A\subset \{1,\dots,\nu\}} (-1)^{|A|}\text{ Tr} (e^{-tH_A})= 1-t\langle V\rangle+o(t), \] where \(\langle V\rangle\) is the average of \(V\) at the \(2^\nu\) corners of \([0,1]^\nu\), and \(H_A\) is the realization of \(H\) on \([0,1]^\nu\) with Dirichlet boundary condition on \(\{x_j=0\}\cup \{x_j=1\}\) if \(j\in A\), and Neumann boundary condition on \(\{x_j=0\}\cup \{x_j=1\}\) if \(j\not\in A\). The main tool consists in writing the heat kernel of each \(H_j\) by using the method of images.