On the spectrum of a differential operator of high-order (Q2387838)

Let \(L\) be a self-adjoint extension of the operator defined by the operation \[ Ly=(-1)^ry^{(2r)}+qy, \;\;0\leq x<\infty \] on functions which satisfy \[ y^{(k)}(0)=0, \;\;k=0,1,\dots,r-1 \] and vanish for sufficiently large values of \(x\). Take points \(\{a_k\}\), \(k\geq 1\), satisfying the conditions \[ a_1<a_2<...<a_k<\dots, \;\;a_k\to +\infty, \] \[ a_k-a_{k-1}\to 0, \;\;k\to \infty. \] Choose an interval \(\Delta_k=(a_k-h_k, a_k+h_k)\), where the numbers \(h_k\) are positive and small enough for these intervals to be pairwise disjoint. The authors prove that, if \(q(x)\) is a peacewise continuous real function on \((0,\infty)\) with the following properties: \( (1) \;q(x)\leq 0 \;\text{ for} \;x\in \mathop{\cup}\limits_{k=1}^{\infty}\Delta_k \;\text{ and} \;q(x)\geq 0 \) otherwise; \( (2) \;h_k^{2r-1}\int_{\Delta_k}| q(x)| dx\rightarrow +\infty; \) \( (3) \;\int_{\Delta_k}| x-a_k| | q(x)| dx<{1\over 3}, \) then the spectrum of \(L\) is discrete and not bounded below.