Discreteness of the spectrum for some differential operators with unbounded coefficients in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) (Q5926040)

The authors study the spectrum of the differential operators \(A= -\Delta+ \langle\nabla F,\nabla u\rangle\), \(F\in C^2(\mathbb{R}^n)\) in \(L^2(\mathbb{R}^n, e^{-F}dx)\), and \(B= -\Delta+ V\) in \(L^2(\mathbb{R}^n, dx)\). The operator \(A\) is equivalent to the operator \(B\) with \(V= |\nabla F|^2/4-\Delta F/2\). It is proved that the spectrum of \(B\) is discrete if \(\lim_{|c|\to \infty}|E_M\cap Q(c,1)= 0\) for any \(M>0\), where \(E_M= \{x\in \mathbb{R}^n: V(x)< M\}\), \(Q(c,d)= \{x:|x-c|_{l^\infty}< d\}\). This statement is a consequence of the recent results of \textit{V. Kondrat'ev} and \textit{M. Shubin} [Oper. Theory, Adv. Appl. 110, 185-226 (1999; Zbl 0985.58012)], but the authors give direct proof based on Sobolev embeddings. It is also shown that for polynomial potentials \(V\) the above condition is necessary.