Non-real eigenvalues of indefinite Sturm-Liouville problems (Q2434677)

Consider the regular indefinite Sturm-Liouville problem \[ -(py')' + q y = \lambda w y\text{ on }[0,1] \] with separated boundary conditions and with real coefficients \(w, q, 1/p \in L^1[0,1]\) satisfying \(p(x) > 0, \, w(x) \neq 0\) a.e. If the weight function \(w\) changes its sign then the theory of definitizable operators in Krein spaces implies a relation between the number \(n\) of negative eigenvalues of the corresponding definite problem (with \(w\) replaced by \(|w|\)) and the number (\(\leq 2n\)) of non-real eigenvalues of the original problem. The present paper presents a refinement of this result improving some earlier estimates. In particular, two statements on a priori bounds for (the real and imaginary parts of) the non-real eigenvalues are obtained, involving the coefficients and the boundary conditions: one estimate assuming certain smoothness conditions on the weight function \(w\) and the other estimate assuming \(p=1\) and only a single sign change of \(w\). Furthermore, two existence statements are obtained, using the so-called eigencurve method: sufficient conditions for the existence of exactly \(2\) non-real eigenvalues and also for its complete absence (even if above we have \(n > 0\)).