Hodge-Laplace operator on compact manifolds deprived of a finite number of balls. (Q2368159)

For a compact, orientable, connected Riemannian manifold \(M\) with boundary \(\text{bd}(M)\), the Laplace-Hodge operator (or rather the square root \(D\)) is considered. Estimates for the boundary behaviour of forms are applied to study the situation where \(M\) has been perturbed to \[ M_ e =: M\setminus (N\text{ balls of radius }e), \] \(e< \text{ radius of injectivity of }M\). In particular the aim is to compare spectra and eigenforms for \(D\) on \(M\) and \(M_ e\) and the possible convergence of these quantities as \(e \to 0\). Various types of topologically distinct boundary conditions, all guaranteeing the ellipticity and self-adjointness of the operator \(D\), are considered. The Friedrichs' inequality, required by the ellipticity of the boundary value problem, involves a constant \(C\) which depends critically on the curvature of \(\text{bd}(M)\) (in fact one might have \(C \to \infty\)!). As a preliminary for the rest of the work this dependence is controlled in a very precise way. Then, and in a quite technical way, it is proven that in fact eigenvalues and eigenspaces of the Laplace- Hodge operator on \(M_ e\) do converge to those on \(M\) as \(e \to 0\), with the -- on topological grounds -- expected exception of forms of degree \((\dim(M) - 1)\). The latter simply becoming singular in a neighbourhood of \(\text{bd}(M)\) as \(e \to 0\).