A symplectic perspective on constrained eigenvalue problems (Q1710519)

Let $L:=-\Delta+V$, $V\in L^{\infty}\left(\Omega\right)$, be the Schrödinger operator on a bounded domain $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^{n}$ with Lipschitz boundary. For each constrained space $L_{c}^{2}\left(\Omega\right):=\left\{ \phi_{1},\ldots,\phi_{m}\right\} ^{\perp}\subset L^{2}\left(\Omega\right)$, $\phi_{1},\ldots,\phi_{m}\in H^{1}\left(\Omega\right)$, the authors define the associated one parameter family of Lagrangian Cauchy data spaces $\mu_{c}\left(\lambda\right):=\left\{ \left.\left(u,\partial_{\nu}u\right)\right|_{\Omega}|u\in L_{c}^{2}\left(\Omega\right)\cap H^{1}\left(\Omega\right),\ Lu=\lambda u\right\} \subset H^{1/2}\left(\partial\Omega\right)\times H^{-1/2}\left(\partial\Omega\right)$, $\lambda\in\mathbb{R}$. The choice of an additional Lagrangian subspace $\beta$ corresponds to a self-adjoint extension $\mathcal{L}_{c}$ of the Schrödinger operator densely defined on $L_{c}^{2}\left(\Omega\right)$. The main result is then the equality of the Maslov index \[ -\mathrm{Mas}\left(\left|\mu_{c}\right|_{\left[\lambda,0\right]};\beta\right)=n\left(\mathcal{L}_{c}\right),\tag{1} \] $\lambda\ll0$, with the number of negative eigenvalues (Morse index) of $\mathcal{L}_{c}$. Previously [\textit{G. Cox} et al., Commun. Partial Differ. Equations 40, No. 8, 1467--1497 (2015; Zbl 1335.35166)], the authors had treated the unconstrained problem ($L_{c}^{2}\left(\Omega\right)=L^{2}\left(\Omega\right)$); with the constrained problem needed for a short application to the one dimensional non-linear Schrödinger equation in the last section. \par Relations between spectra and Maslov index as (1) are classical in the context of first order operators of Dirac type defined in general geometric situations. Recent deeper results along these lines include [\textit{Y. Latushkin} and \textit{S. Sukhtaiev}, Adv. Math. 329, 422--486 (2018; Zbl 06863449)] for more general second order operators and [\textit{B. Booß-Bavnbek} and \textit{C. Zhu}, Ann. Global Anal. Geom. 44, No. 3, 283--318 (2013; Zbl 1307.53063); Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 1201, 122 p. (2018; Zbl 07000096)] for operators in abstract functional analytic settings.