On a Sturm-Liouville problem (Q1334925)

There is considered a singular Sturm-Liouville problem \[ -(u' \sin \alpha \theta)' = \lambda u \sin^ \alpha \theta,\quad \alpha \geq 1, \quad u (\theta_ 0) = 0,\;\theta_ 0 \in (0,\pi), \] \[ \int_ 0^{\theta_ 0} u^ 2 \sin^ \alpha \theta \quad d \theta < \infty. \] The eigenvalue problem of such type arises in many situations in analysis. There is proved that the spectrum of the problem is a sequence \(\lambda_ n\) of positive real numbers tending to \(+\infty\). There is obtained an analytical proof of a lower bound for \(\lambda_ 1\): \[ \lambda_ 1 \geq \left( \int_ 0^{\theta_ 0} {dx \over \sin^ \alpha x} \int^ x_ 0 \sin^ \alpha t dt \right)^{-1}. \] The probabilistic proof is obtained in [\textit{C. Betz}, \textit{G. A. Camera} and \textit{H. Gzyl}, Appl. Math. Optim. 10, 193-202 (1983; Zbl 0534.35074)] in the particular case \(\alpha = m - 2\).