No label defined (Q4400764)

This article concerns the WKB approximation for the number \(N_y(I)\) of zeros of a nontrivial solution \(y\) to the linear differential equation \[ - y''= fy\tag{1} \] in a real interval \(I\), where \(f\) denotes a positive continuous function in \(I\). The main theorem contains explicit upper and lower bounds for \(N_y(I)/M(I)\), with \(M(I)= \pi^{-1}\int_I f^{1/2}\) (WKB approximation). The theorem is applied to a set of \[ -y''= f_\lambda y,\leqno{(2)_\lambda} \] \(\lambda\in\Lambda\), whose index set \(\Lambda\) has a limit point \(\lambda^*\) for which the WKB approximation for \((2)_{\lambda^*}\) is exact. Three corollaries give convergence properties of normalized zero-counting measures for \((2)_\lambda\) as \(\lambda\to\lambda^*\). The results are applied to hypergeometric differential equations, including the Hermité, Jacobi, and Laguerre types. The last section contains a conjecture on the asymptotic distribution of the complex zeros of solutions to hypergeometric equations. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0892.00034].