Quadratic eigenvalue problems for second order systems (Q371704)

The authors investigate the quadratic eigenvalue problem \[ -(M(x)Y')'+Q(x)Y-\lambda S(x)Y=\lambda^2 Y \] with the boundary conditions \[ A^*Y(0)-B^*MY'(0)=0,\,\,\,\Gamma^*Y(1)-\Delta^*MY'(1)=0, \] where \(Q(x)\) and \(M(x)\) are \(n\times n\) Hermitian matrices for each \(x\) and each component of \(Q(x)\) and \(M^{-1}(x)\) is an \(L^1(0,1)\) function, \(M(x)\) is positive definite, \(S(x)\) is an Hermitian matrix valued function with entries from \(L^{\infty}(0,1)\), \(A,\,B,\,\Gamma,\,\Delta\) are \(n\times n\) matrices with \(A^*A+B^*B=I\), \(\Gamma^*\Gamma+\Delta^*\Delta=I\), \(A^*B=B^*A\) and \(\Gamma^*\Delta=\Delta^*\Gamma\). They study the spectral structure for the problem above, show that the number of non-real eigenvalues is finite and give a bound for the non-real eigenvalues. By developing the eigencurve theory for this problem, the authors relate the Jordan chain lengths to order of contact of the eigencurve \(\mu_n(\lambda)\) with the parabola \(\mu=\lambda^2\) at eigenvalues, and then they obtain the eigenvalue asymptotics. Using some operator matrix techniques, the completeness of the eigenfunctions is also investigated.