Tracking eigenvalues to the frontier of moduli space. II: Limits for eigenvalue branches (Q1601044)

Let \(M\) and \(N\) be compact, oriented, smooth manifolds of dimensions \(d\) and \(d+1\) respectively. Suppose that we have an embedded copy of \(3I\times M\) inside \(N\), where \(I\) is a closed interval containing \(0\). Given real numbers \(a\) and \(b\), consider families \(\{ g_{\varepsilon}\}\) of metrics on \(N\) whose restriction to \(3I\times M\) has the form \[ g_{\varepsilon}=\rho(\varepsilon,t)^{2a} dt^{2}+\rho(\varepsilon,t)^{2b}h, \] where \(h\) is a fixed Riemannian metric on \(M\) and \(\rho\) is a positively homogeneous function of degree \(1\) that is smooth away from \((0,0)\). An example of this situation is hyperbolic degeneration -- when one shrinks a closed geodesic on a compact Riemann surface of Gauss curvature \(-1\) without changing the curvature. The main results are as follows. Let \(b>0\), and either let \(a<-1\) or let \(a=-1\) and \(a+bd=0\). If \(g_{\varepsilon}\) is real-analytic in \(\varepsilon\), then each eigenvalue branch of the associated family of Laplacians, \(\Delta_{g_{\varepsilon}}\), converges to a finite limit as \(\varepsilon\to 0^{+}\). Moreover, if a technical assumption is satisfied, the eigenfunctions of the Laplacians corresponding to a specific eigenvalue branch converge to an \(L^{2}\) eigenfunction. [For part I of this paper, see the author, J. Funct. Anal. 184, 273-290 (2001; Zbl 1005.58012)].