Some remarks on the eigenvalue multiplicities of the Laplacian on infinite locally finite trees (Q351142)

The eigenvalue problem \[ \frac{d^2y}{dx^2}=\lambda y \] is considered on a simply connected graph \(T\) with continuity conditions and Kirchhoff flow conditions at each node. In addition, the graph is assumed to be uniformly locally finite, i.e., the number of edges incident to each node is finite and uniformly bounded across the graph. Denote the edges of the graph by \(e_j\) and the length of \(e_j\) by \(\ell_j<\infty\). A function \(y\) on \(T\) is said to be harmonic if on each edge \(e_j=[0,\ell_j]\), \(y|{_{}e{}_j}(t_j)=a_jt_j+b_j\) for all \(t_j\in [0,\ell_j]\), and \(y\) is continuous at the nodes and obeys Kirchhoff flow conditions there. Denote the class of harmonic functions on \(T\) by \(H(T)\). It is shown for such graphs that if \(\inf\ell_j>0\), then either \(\text{dim}(H(T)\cap L^\infty(T))=1\) or \(H(T)\cap L^\infty(T)\) is infinite dimensional. If in addition \(\lambda\in [0,\infty)\) is an eigenvalue with eigenfunction in \(C_K^2(T)\cap L^\infty(T)\), then the eigenspace of \(\lambda\) in \(C_K^2(T)\cap L^\infty(T)\) is infinite dimensional if and only if the eigenspace contains an isomorphic copy of \(\ell^\infty(N)\). Here \(C^2_K(T)\) denotes the bounded continuous functions of \(T\) which are \(C^2\) on each edge and obey the Kirchhoff flow condition at each node.