The computation of eigenvalues of singular Sturm-Liouville operators (Q2370829)

An effective way is given to approximate eigenvalues of a singular Sturm-Liouville boundary problem for operators which are relatively bounded perturbations of a known operator. Given \[ L_0y=-(p(x)y'(x))'+ q_0(x)y(x), \] \[ Ly=L_0y(x)+q(x)y(x), \] \(a<x<b\), satisfying the same boundary conditions at \(x=a,b\), \(-\infty<a<b<\infty\), assume that \(L_0\) determines a selfadjoint operator on \(L_W^2(a,b)\) with discrete spectrum \(\mu_n\) and eigenfunctions \(u_n(x)\) and that \(L\) determines a selfadjoint relatively bounded extension with domains \(\{u_n\}^\infty_{n=0}\subseteq D_{L_0}\subseteq D_L\). The eigenvalues \(\lambda_n\) of \(L\) are proved to be solutions of the equation \[ \det((I+A(\lambda))\exp(A(\lambda))=0,\quad A(\lambda)=M^{-\tfrac 12}QM^{-\tfrac 12}-\lambda M^{-1}, \] \(M_{k,n}=(L_0u_k,u_n)\), \(Q_{k,n}= (qu_k,u_n)\), provided that \[ \sum_{k,n}|M_{k,n}|^2<\infty,\;\sum_{k,n}|(M^{-\tfrac 12}QM^{-\tfrac 12})_{k,n}|^2\infty. \] A detailed analysis and computational results are presented when \(L_0\) is the Laguerre operator on \((0,\infty)\) with boundary condition \(y(0)=0\).