Boundedness and monotonicity of principal eigenvalues for boundary value problems with indefinite weight functions (Q1608155)

Summary: We study the principal eigenvalues (i.e., eigenvalues corresponding to positive eigenfunctions) for the boundary value problem: \(-\Delta u (x)=\lambda g(x)u(x)\), \(x\in D;\) \((\partial u/\partial n)(x)+\alpha u(x)=0\), \(x\in \partial D\), where \(\Delta\) is the standard Laplace operator, \(D\subset \mathbb{R}^N\) is a bounded domain with smooth boundary, \(g:D\to \mathbb{R}\) is a smooth function which changes sign on \(D\) and \(\alpha \in \mathbb{R}\). We discuss the relation between \(\alpha\) and the principal eigenvalues.