Infinite-dimensional Evans function theory for elliptic eigenvalue problems in a channel (Q2496723)

Let \(\Omega\) be an open smooth domain of \(\mathbb R^{n}\) with outward unit normal \(\nu\). The authors consider the eigenvalue boundary value problem \[ \begin{alignedat}{2} u_{xx}+\Delta_{y}u+\beta(y) u_{x}+f(x,y)u&=\lambda u &&\quad \forall (x,y)\in\mathbb R\times\Omega, \\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial\nu}&=0 &&\quad \forall (x,y)\in \mathbb R\times\partial\Omega. \end{alignedat} \] Here \(\Delta_{y}\) denotes the Laplace operator in \(\mathbb R^{n}\), and \(\beta\), \(f\) are preassigned functions. The authors convert the above eigenvalue problem into an abstract evolution equation in which the evolution parmeter is \(x\). Then by considering solutions which are bounded backward in \(x\) and solutions which are bounded forward in \(x\), the authors construct a so-called Evans function \(E(\cdot)\) defined on simply connected bounded domains \(D\) of the complex plane such that the boundary \(\partial D\) does not contain eigenvalues of the above problem and show that if \(\lambda_{0}\in D\) is an eigenvalue of the above problem, then \(\lambda_{0}\) is a zero of \(E\) and the algebraic multiplicity of \(\lambda_{0}\) coincides with the order of zero of \(\lambda_{0}\) for \(E\). The authors also introduce an unstable bundle and show that its first Chern number coincides with the number of eigenvalues of the above problem in \(D\).