Sturm's theorem on zeros of linear combinations of eigenfunctions (Q1987042)

The paper aims to provide Sturm's theorem on zeros of linear combinations of eigenfunctions of the Sturm-Liouville operator together with the original proof by C. Sturm. The main motivation of the authors is related with the extension of Courant's nodal domain theorem. The paper is based on the original studies by C. Sturm written in the XIX-th century and also contains some historial background. Following C. Sturm, the authors of the paper consider the eigenvalue problem in the form \[ \frac{d}{dx} \left( K \frac{dV}{dx}\right) + (r G - L) V = 0, \quad x \in ]\alpha, \beta[, \tag{1} \] \[ \left( K \frac{dV}{dx} - h V \right)(\alpha) = 0, \quad \left( K \frac{dV}{dx} + H V \right)(\beta) = 0, \tag{2} \] where \(r\) is the spectral parameter, \(K, G, L \colon [\alpha, \beta] \to \mathbb R\) are positive functions, \(h, H \in [0, \infty]\). The main theorem is formulated as follows. ``Theorem 1.4. (Sturm) Let \(Y = A_m V_m + \dots + A_n V_n\) be a non-trivial linear combination of eigenfunctions of the eigenvalue problem (1)--(2), with \(1 \le m \le n\), and \(\{ A_j, m \le j \le n\}\) real constants such that \(A_m^2 + \dots + A_n^2 \ne 0\). Then, the function \(Y\) has at least \((m-1)\), and at most \((n-1)\) zeros in the open interval \(]\alpha, \beta[\).'' Although Theorem 1.4 is well-known for the case \(m = n\), the general case rarely appears in the recent literature and is probably unknown to some specialists in spectral theory.