Spectral analysis of a complex Schrödinger operator in the semiclassical limit (Q2817451)

This paper studies the spectrum of Schrödinger operators with a purely imaginary potential \({\mathcal{A}}_h=-h^2 \Delta +i V\), on a bounded planar domain with a smooth boundary \(\Omega\), with Dirichlet boundary conditions, in the semiclassical limit \(h\rightarrow 0\). It is proved that the operator has eigenvalues which are associated to special points on the the boundary of \(\Omega\), namely those at which the gradient of the potential \(V\) is orthogonal to the boundary and the norm of the gradient is minimal. If \(x_0\) is such a point, the main theorem provides the existence of an eigenvalue \(\lambda\) with the asymptotic expression NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\lambda= i V(x_0)+e^{i\frac{\pi}{3}}|\mu_1|(c_m h)^{\frac{2}{3}}+\sqrt{2\alpha}e^{i\frac{\pi}{4}} h +o(h),\;\text{ as } h\rightarrow 0,NEWLINE\]NEWLINE where \(c_m\) and \(\alpha\) are explicitly given in terms of first and second derivatives of \(V\) at \(x_0\), and \(\mu_1\) is the rightmost zero of Airy's function.NEWLINENEWLINEIn particular, this result, combined with previous results of the authors giving lower bounds on the real part of the eigenvalues, implies the following asymptotic expression for the left margin of the spectrum: NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\lim_{h\rightarrow 0}h^{-\frac{2}{3}} \inf \Re (\sigma({\mathcal{A}_h}))=\frac{|\mu_1|}{2}c_m^{\frac{2}{3}}.NEWLINE\]NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEThe proof of the main result employs a study of an analogous one-dimensional problem, for which a complete asymptotic expansion of the relevant eigenvalue in powers of \(h\) is derived.