The eigenvalue characterization for the constant sign Green's functions of \((k,n-k)\) problems (Q257315)

The authors consider the following differential equation \[ T_{n}[M]u(t)\equiv u^{(n)}(t)+a_1 (t)u^{(n-1)}(t)+\dots+a_{n-1}(t)u'(t)+(a_{n}(t)+M)u(t)=0, \] \(t \in [a,b]\), subject to the \((k,n-k)\) boundary conditions \[ u(a)=u' (a)=\dots=u^{(k-1)}(a)=u(b)=u'(b)=\dots =u^{(k-1)}(b)=0, \] where \(M \in \mathbb R, 1\leq k\leq n-1\). Under the assumption that \(T_{n}[M]u(t)\) is disconjugate on the Interval I the authors obtain some results on eigenvalues of \(T_{n}[{M}]\).