Eigenvalues of a nonlinear ground state in the Thomas-Fermi approximation (Q1022954)

The paper deals with a nonlinear ground state of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a parabolic potential in the hydrodynamics limit, which is refered as the Thomas-Fermi approximtion. Basically, the authors study the spectrum of the linearization of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation at the ground state \(\eta_\epsilon\) which is described as a real-valued, positive-definite, global minimizer of the Gross-Pitaevskii energy. In the paper it is considered the following eigenvalue problem: \(-\varepsilon^2u''+ 2(1-x^2)u= -\lambda w\), \(-\varepsilon^2w''= \lambda u\), for \(|x|<1\), \(-\varepsilon^2u''+ 2(x^2-1)u= -\lambda w\), \(-\varepsilon^2w''+ (x^2-1)w= \lambda u\), for \(|x|>1\) with appropriate matching conditions at \(x=\pm 1\). The main result of the paper consists of the following: The above given spectral problem for \(\varepsilon>0\) has a purely discrete spectrum that consists of eigenvalues at \(\lambda=\pm i\varepsilon(\gamma_{n,\varepsilon})^{1/2}\), where the set \(\{\gamma_{n,\varepsilon}\}_{n\in \mathbb N}\) is sorted in the increasing order, while \(\gamma_{n,\varepsilon}\to \gamma_{n}\) as \(\varepsilon\to 0\) for every \(n\in\mathbb N\). Moreover, the convergence in norm of the resolvent operator is proved and the convergence rate is estimated. It is also studied asymptotic and numerical approximations of eigenfunctions and eigenvalues by means of Airy functions.