Second order periodic differential operators. Threshold properties and homogenization (Q4831264)

The authors consider a class of vector-periodic partial differential operators admitting a factorization \(A=X^*X\) where \(X\) is a first order homogeneous differential operator. This class includes, after appropriate preparatory transformations, the acoustic, Schrödinger, and Pauli operators, as well as the operators of elasticity theory. Assuming that \(\lambda =0\) is the lower edge of the spectrum, the authors are interested in threshold effects, that is, those properties of an operator \(A\) which depend only on the behavior of spectral characteristics of \(A\) near the point \(\lambda =0\). Such are the homogenization effects, describing the behavior of an operator in a small period limit, where the the coefficients depend on a small parameter \(\epsilon\) and oscillate rapidly as \(\epsilon \to 0\). Another example is related to the negative discrete spectrum of the operator \(A-\alpha V\), \(\alpha >0\), where \(V(x)\geq 0\) and \(V(x)\to 0\) as \(| x| \to \infty\). The authors concentrate mainly on the homogenization problems for the above classes of operators, proving a large variety of results regarding the convergence of solutions and flows. The technique is based on abstract operator-theoretic spectral perturbation theory for operator-valued functions admitting analytic factorization.