A Prüfer angle approach to singular Sturm-Liouville problems with Molčanov potentials (Q2381613)

The authors consider the singular Sturm-Liouville equation \[ \tau y:=-y''+qy=\lambda y, \tag{1} \] on \((0,\infty)\), where \(\lambda\) is a real parameter and \(q\) is Lebesgue measurable, essentially bounded below and has \(\int_x^{x+k} q\;dt \to \infty\) as \(x\to\infty\) for all \(k>0\). The eigenfunctions of (1) with the additional conditions \[ y(0)\cos\alpha=y'(0)\sin\alpha,\tag{2} \] where \(\alpha\in [0,\pi)\), and \[ y, \tau y\in L^2(0,\infty),\;y,y' \in AC, \tag{3} \] are studied. It is known [see \textit{D. E. Edmunds} and \textit{W. D. Evans}, Spectral theory and differential operators, Oxford University Press (1987; Zbl 0628.47017), section 5 for example], that the spectrum of (1)--(3) consists of a countable collection of simple real eigenvalues accumulating at \(+\infty\). Hence the eigenvalues can be listed as \(\lambda_0<\lambda_1<\lambda_2<\dots\). Prüfer angle techniques are then used to show that nontrivial solutions of (1)--(2) for \(\lambda \in (\lambda_{n-1},\lambda_n]\) have \(n\) zeros in \((0,\infty)\), where \(\lambda_{-1}\) is taken to mean \(-\infty\). It is also shown that if \(\Theta(\lambda,x)\) denotes the Prüfer angle associated with (1), having \(\Theta(\lambda,0)=\alpha\), then \[ \lim_{x\to\infty} \Theta(\lambda,x)=:l(\lambda) \] exists and \(\lambda\) is an eigenvalue of (1)--(3) if and only if \(l(\lambda^+)-l(\lambda^-)=\pi.\)