Spectral theory for Schrödinger operators with \(\delta\)-interactions supported on curves in \(\mathbb {R}^3\) (Q529602)

For a compact closed regular \(C^2\)-curve \(\Sigma\) in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) and \(\alpha\in\mathbb{R}\setminus\{0\}\), modeling the inverse strength of the interaction, there is considered the Schrödinger operator \(-\Delta_{\Sigma,\alpha}\) in \(L^2(\mathbb{R}^3)\), which corresponds to the formal differential expression \(-\Delta -\alpha^{-1}\delta (\cdot-\Sigma)\), more precisely, the action of the Schrödinger operator is given by \(\mathcal{A}_\alpha u:= -\Delta u -\alpha^{-1} u|\Sigma\cdot \delta_\Sigma\). Firstly, it is proven that when considering the domain as the Sobolev space \(H^2(\mathbb{R}^3)\) at which some spaces of singular elements, defined in terms of a generalized trace \(u|\Sigma\), are added, then \(\mathcal{A}_\alpha\) yields a selfadjoint operator in \(L^2(\mathbb{R}^3)\). Then it is shown that the negative spectrum is always finite and lower and upper estimates of the number of negative eigenvalues, depending on \(\alpha\) and the geometry of the curve \(\Sigma\), are obtained. For the particular case when \(\Sigma\) is a circle, an explicit formula for this number of negative eigenvalues is obtained and it is proven that, amongst all curves of a fixed length, the principal eigenvalue of \(-\Delta_{\Sigma,\alpha}\) is maximized by the circle. Along the way, a Kreĭn type formula for the difference between the resolvent of \(-\Delta_{\Sigma,\alpha}\) and the free Laplacian \(\Delta_{\mathrm{free}}\) is obtained, which yields an assymptotic estimation of the singular values of this difference, in particular this difference belongs to the Schatten-von Neumann ideals \(\mathfrak{S}_p\) for all \(p>1/2\). Then, it is shown that the absolutely continuous spectrum of \(-\Delta_{\Sigma,\alpha}\) is the interval \([0,\infty)\) and that the wave operators of the scattering pair \((-\Delta_{\mathrm{free}},-\Delta_{\Sigma,\alpha})\) exist and are complete. Finally, a representation of the associated scattering matrix is given in terms of an explicit operator function in \(L^2(\Sigma)\).