DISCRETENESS OF SPECTRUM FOR THE MAGNETIC SCHRÖDINGER OPERATORS (Q4547607)

In this substantial paper the authors discuss necessary and sufficient conditions for the discreteness of the spectrum of the magnetic Schrödinger operator \[ H_{a,V} = \sum_{j=1}^n P^2_j +V(x), \] where \(x \in {\mathbb R^n}\) (the case of \(x \in M\), a Riemannian manifold of bounded geometry is considered as well) and \(P_j=1/i \, \partial/\partial x^j + a_j\). The vector \(a\) is connected to the magnetic field \(B\) by \(B = \text{curl}\, a\). The main assumption used to formulate conditions ensuring discreteness f the spectrum is that the potential \(V\) is semi-bounded from below, that is, \(V(x) \geq -C\) for some constant \(C\). A variety of criteria that result in a discreted spectrum for \(H_{a,V}\) are presented: in terms of the behaviour of the infima of the Dirichlet or Neumann spectrum of \(H_{a,V}\) on balls or squares of a fixed size (see e.g. Theorem 1.1 (b), (c) or Theorem 1.2), or in terms of conditions (such as, for example, the Molchanov condition \((M_c)\)) satisfied by an effective potential \(V_{eff}\) derived from \(V\) and the magnetic field. A simple example of such a statement is Theorem 1.8: if \(n=2\) and there exists \(\delta \in [-1,1]\) such that the effective potential \(V_{eff}=V+\delta B\) satisfies \(V_{eff} \rightarrow \infty\) as \(x \rightarrow \infty\), then \(H_{a,V}\) is essentially self-adjoint, semi-bounded below and has discrete spectrum. An interesting class of results is exemplified by Theorem 1.6 (due to \textit{J. Avron, I. Herbst} and \textit{B. Simon} [Duke Math. J. 45, 847--883 (1978; Zbl 0399.35029)]), where it is shown that localization (discreteness of the spectrum) can be induced by the magnetic field alone. This result is improved in Theorem 1.7, using the Molchanov condition. Other assumptions used in deriving sufficient conditions on the discrteteness of the spectrum for \(n \geq 3\) are on the behaviour of \(B(x)\) at infinity, such as condition \((B_\alpha)\): \[ | \nabla B(x)| (1+| B(x)| )^{-\alpha} \rightarrow 0 \qquad \text{ as } x \rightarrow \infty. \] As an example of such a statement, see theorem 1.13. The proofs use a variety of methods; for example, gauge invariance of the spectrum is important, as is the locaization formula (3.5). Many of results generalize the work of \textit{A. Iwatsuka} [Publ. Res. Inst. Math. Sci. 26, No. 5, 841--860 (1990; Zbl 0727.35036)]. The present paper is not self-contained, for some of the proofs the reader is referred to the work of the authors contained in [Oper. Theory, Adv. Appl. 110, 185--226 (1999; Zbl 0985.58012)].