The Maslov and Morse indices for Sturm-Liouville systems on the half-line (Q2281603)

The paper deals with the self-adjoint matrix Sturm-Liouville problem on the half-line: \[ -(P(x) \phi'(x))' + V(x) \phi = \lambda Q(x) \phi, \quad x \in (0, \infty), \] \[ \alpha_1 \phi(0) + \alpha_2 P(0) \phi'(0) = 0, \] where \(P\), \(V\), and \(Q\) are \((n \times n)\)-matrix-valued functions, \(P\) is locally absolutely continuous and \(V\), \(Q\) are locally integrable on \((0, \infty)\). The matrix functions \(P\), \(V\), \(Q\) exponentially tend to some constant positive definite matrices \(P^+\), \(V^+\), \(Q^+\), respectively, at infinity. The authors prove that the Morse index (the number of negative eigenvalues of the problem) can be expressed in terms of the Maslov index and an additional term associated with the boundary condition at \(x = 0\). The main result is applied to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation on the star graph consisting of \(n\) infinite rays.