Bounds on the negative eigenvalues of Laplacians on finite metric graphs (Q2391796)

Considering a self-adjoint Laplace operator on a finite, but necessarily compact, metric graph, this paper proves upper and lower bounds on its negative eigenvalues. Three types of inequalities are obtained, each of which is sharp for a certain class of graphs. The proofs are based on a reduction of the original eigenvalue problem to an eigenvalue problem for an operator-valued function, and on a variational method. Poincaré-type inequalities for the case of compact graphs are also proved.