A uniqueness theorem for higher order anharmonic oscillators (Q2515796)

Summary: We study for \(\alpha\in\mathbb R\), \(k \in\mathbb N\setminus \{0\}\) the family of self-adjoint operators \[ -\frac{d^2}{dt^2}+\left(\frac{t^{k+1}}{k+1}-\alpha\right)^2 \] in \(L^2(\mathbb R)\) and show that if \(k\) is even then \(\alpha=0\) gives the unique minimum of the lowest eigenvalue of this family of operators. Combined with earlier results this gives that for any \(k \geq 1\), the lowest eigenvalue has a unique minimum as a function of \(\alpha\).