General results on the eigenvalues of operators with gaps, arising from both ends of the gaps. Application to Dirac operators (Q2502552)

From the Introduction: In [J.~Funct.\ Anal.\ 174, No.\,1, 208--226 (2000; Zbl 0982.47006)], we proved an abstract result on the variational characterization of the eigenvalues of operators with gaps in the essential spectrum. Such a result was designed to deal with nonpositive perturbations of a fixed selfadjoint operator with a gap in its essential spectrum but without eigenvalues. In that case, the `branching' of the potential `pulls down' eigenvalues from the right-hand side of the gap. In other words, these eigenvalues emerge from the right end of the gap when the coupling is turned on. Here, we address the general case of a perturbation with negative and positive parts, so that eigenvalues can emerge simultaneously from the left- and right-hand sides of the gap. We observe that a simple extension of the general abstract result proved in [loc.\,cit.] allows us to treat much more general cases.