On the asymptotic behavior of the principal eigenvalues of some elliptic problems (Q1956520)

For the principal eigenvalues of the problem \[ \begin{cases} L_{\alpha} u = -\text{div}(A(x)\nabla u)+\alpha \langle a(x),\nabla u \rangle + a_0(x)u = \lambda m(x)u &\text{in } \Omega,\\ u = 0 &\text{on } \partial \Omega, \end{cases} \] where \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain in \(\mathbb R^n\), \(A(x)\) is a uniformly elliptic matrix, \(a(x)\) is a divergence-free vector field, \(\alpha\) is a real parameter and \(m(x)\) is a weight satisfying \(m^+ \not \equiv 0\) it was proven by \textit{H. Berestycki, F. Hamel} and \textit{N. Nadirashvili} [Commun. Math. Phys. 253, No. 2, 451--480 (2005; Zbl 1123.35033)] that, for a weight \(m(x)\) with \(m(x) \geq \varepsilon > 0\), \(x \in \Omega\), the limit of the principal eigenvalues \(\lambda_\alpha\) for \( \alpha \to \infty \) always exists in \(\mathbb R \cup \{\infty\}\) and there are also conditions for the case that the limit is finite. The purpose of this paper is to extend this result to the case of an indefinite weight \(m(x)\). This approach based on a minimax formula for \(\lambda_\alpha\). It turns out, for example, that the principal eigenvalue may fail to exist for all \(\alpha\) or may fail to exists for some \(\alpha\) but not for all. Properties for the function \(\alpha \mapsto \lambda_\alpha\) are given and also the Neumann-Robin boundary conditions are considered.