Counting eigenvalues of Schrödinger operators with fast decaying complex potentials (Q2074797)

This may be the first paper to provide sharp quantitative estimates on the number of zeros of functions in a Gevrey class of analytic quasianalytic functions. That is, from among the functions \(f(z) = \sum_{n=0}^\infty \hat{f} (n)z^{n}\) analytic in the open unit disk \(\mathbb{D}\), for some real \(\beta \ge 0\), consider the class for which \(|\hat{f} (n) | \le a'_{f} \exp[-a_{f}\cdot n^{(1+\beta)/(2+\beta)}]\) for all \(n\ge 0\). These functions together with all their derivatives have continuous extensions to the boundary of \(\mathbb{D}\). Moreover, with a normalization \(|f(0)| \ge \exp (-A)\), the number of zeros \(N_{f}\) of \(f\) in \(\overline{\mathbb{D}}\) is finite. The main result of the paper is a formula that estimates \(N_{f}\) from above in terms of \(A\) and \(\beta\). Interestingly, this formula exhibits a phase transition in the form of the upper bound in response to different relations between \(A\) and \(\beta\). As an application, it turns out that for certain non-symmetric complex Jacobi matrices \(J\), the perturbation determinant \(\Delta(z)\) whose zeros are the eigenvalues of \(J\), is a function in such a Gevrey class. The estimate, therefore, provides an upper bound on the number of eigenvalues of \(J\). Such quantitative results in the spectral analysis of non-selfadjoint Schrödinger operators are very rare although extremely important, thus making the techniques in this article more valuable.