Sharp boundary behavior of eigenvalues for Aharonov-Bohm operators with varying poles (Q2404475)

Let \(\Omega\subset {\mathbb R}^2\) be a bounded, open and simply connected domain such that \(0\in\Omega\) and \(H=(i\nabla + A_a)^2\) is a magnetic Aharonov-Bohm operator on \(L^2(\Omega)\) with Dirichlet boundary conditions and with half-integer circulation: \[ A_a(x)=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{-(x_2-a_2)}{(x_1-a_1)^2+(x_2-a_2)^2},\frac{x_1-a_1}{(x_1-a_1)^2+(x_2-a_2)^2}\right), \] \[ a=(a_1,a_2)\in{\mathbb R}^2, x=(x_1,x_2) \in{\mathbb R}^2\backslash\{a\}. \] The authors investigate the asymptotic behavior of the \(N\)-th eigenvalue \(\lambda^a_N\) of the operator \(H\) as pole \(a\) approaches a point \(b\) on the boundary of \(\Omega\). Let \(\lambda_N\) is \textit{simple} eigenvalue with corresponding eigenfunction \(\varphi_N\) of the limiting problem, i.e. of the Dirichlet-Laplacian on the same domain. Assume that \(\varphi_N\) has \(j-1\), \(j\in {\mathbb N}, j\geq 1\), nodal lines ending at \(b \in \partial\Omega\). The authors prove that the limit of the quotient \(\frac{\lambda_N-\lambda_N^a}{|a-b|^{2j}}\), as \(a\) approaches \(b\) moving on straight line, exists, is finite and depends continuously on the line direction. Furthermore, such a limit is strictly positive if the line is tangent to a nodal line of \(\varphi_N\), while it is strictly negative if the moving pole direction is in the middle of the tangents to two nodal lines or in the middle between a tangent and the boundary. A variational characterization of the limit of the above quotient is provided, by relating it to the minimum of an energy functional associated to an elliptic problem with a crack sloping at the moving pole direction. The proof relies on the construction of a limit profile depending on the direction along which the pole is moving, and on an Almgren-type monotonicity argument for magnetic operators.