The approximate spectral projection method (Q1094595)

If the eigenvalues of a self-adjoint operator A cannot be calculated exactly, one is looking at least for asymptotics of the sequence \((\lambda_ n)\) of eigenvalues of A. Actually one is interested in the behaviour of distribution functions like \[ N_{\pm}(t,A)=card\{i:\pm \lambda_ i^{\pm}\leq t\}\quad as\quad t\to \infty \] if A has discrete spectrum, or \[ N((a,b-\tau),A)=card\{i: a<\lambda_ i<b-\tau \}\quad as\quad \tau \to 0+ \] if the sequence \((\lambda_ n)\) tends to b for \(n\to \infty\). For operator families \(A_ h\) depending on a small parameter h one is interested in the behaviour of \(N((a,b),A_ h)\) as \(h\to 0+.\) In this paper a general method, also applicable to pseudo differential operators, is developed which allows to investigate a large number of such spectral problems in a uniform way. As a basis a slightly generalized version of the Weyl-Hörmander calculus is given in the first section.