Spectral convergence of manifold pairs (Q2577069)

Let \(\sigma(M)\) be the spectrum of the Laplacian acting on \(L^2(M)\) where \(M\) is a complete Riemannian manifold. Decompose \(\sigma(M)=\sigma_{\text{ess}}(M)\cup\sigma_{disc}(M)\) as the union of the essential and the discrete spectrum. The authors establish limit theorems for the spectrum of a sequence of manifold pairs \((M_i,A_i)\) which converge in the Lipschitz topology to a pair \((M,A)\). This yields, among other important results, the following Theorem. For every \(n\geq2\), \(k>0\), \(m>0\), there is a smooth Riemannian manifold \(M\) of dimension \(n\) and curvature contained in \([-1,0]\) with the following additional properties: (1) \(\sigma_{\text{ess}}(M)\) is non-empty and \(M\) has infinitely many eigenvalues below \(\sigma_{\text{ess}}(M)\). (2) For \(2\leq j\leq k\), the multiplicity of the \(j\)-th eigenvalue of the Laplacian is at least \(m\). (3) In the case \(n=2\), \(M\) can be chosen to have constant curvature \(-1\). In the compact case, there is a related result by \textit{Y. Colin de Verdiere} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér., IV. Ser. 20, No. 4, 599--615 (1987; Zbl 0636.58036)].