Negative spectrum of an elliptic operator with Robin boundary conditions (Q5940006)

The authors consider the following symmetric positive definite operator of order \(2m\) with Robin boundary conditions: with respect to measurable functions \(a_{\alpha \beta}\) in \(\mathbb R^n_+ :=\{x=(x',x_n) \in \mathbb R^{n-1} \times\mathbb R_+\}\) it is defined \[ L_0u=\sum_{|\alpha|\leq m, |\beta|\leq m}D^\alpha \bigl(a_{\alpha,\beta} (x)D^\beta u\bigr) \] as well as for \(b_\alpha\in C^\infty (\partial\mathbb R^n_+)\) \(L_{0,m}= \sum_{|\alpha |\leq 2m-1} b_\alpha D^\alpha\). Then, for \(V\in L^q(\mathbb R^n_+)\), \(W \in L^{q_1} (\mathbb R^{n-1})\) and \(\lambda\in \mathbb R\), the function \(u\) has to satisfy \[ \begin{cases} L_0u(x)-V(x)u(x) =\lambda u(x), & x_n>0,\\ L_{0,m}\bigl( u(x) \bigr)-W(x') u(x)=0, & x_n=0\\ {\partial u\over \partial x_n}={\partial^2 u\over \partial x^2_n}= \cdots={\partial^{m-1} u\over\partial x_n^{m-1}}=0, & x_n=0. \end{cases} \] This paper splits essentially in two parts. The main result of the first part says: For \(n>2m\), \(q>n/2m>1\), \(q_1\geq n-1/2m-1\) and \(V(x)= W(x')=0\) for \(|x'|> R>0\), the number of negative eigenvalues is bounded by \[ C_1\int_{x_n> 0}V^q(x)|x|^{2mq-n}dx+C_2 \int_{x_n=0} W^{q_1}(x') |x|^{(2m-1) q_1-n+1}dx'. \] The second part provides estimates for the moments \(S_\gamma= \sum_{\lambda_j <0}|\lambda_j |^\gamma\). In particular, based on the equation \[ S_\gamma= \gamma\int^\infty_0 a^{\gamma-1} N_\alpha d\alpha,\quad \alpha>0, \] with respect to \(N_\alpha\) (number of eigenvalues less than \(-\alpha)\), it is proved that for \(n>2m\), \(r_1\geq 0\), \(r_2\geq 0\), \(m>1\), \(\gamma+(n+r_1)/2m>1\) and \(\gamma+ (n+r_2)/2m >1+r_2/n\) \[ \begin{multlined} S_\gamma\leq C_{(m,n,r_2, \gamma)} \int_{\mathbb R^n_+} V(x)^{\gamma+ (n+r_2)/2m} |x-x_0 |^{r_2}\,dx\\ +C_{(m,n,r_1, \gamma,\delta)}'\int_{x_n =0} W(x')^{\gamma+ (r_1+n+ \kappa)/2m} |x-x_0' |^{r_1} \,dx' \end{multlined} \] with \(x_0=(x_0',x_{0n}) \in\mathbb R^n_+\) and \(0<\kappa <{2m\gamma +n-2 m+r_1 \over 2m-1}\).