The uniqueness of the integrated density of states for the Schrödinger operators with magnetic fields (Q5947792)

Let \(L\) be the Schrödinger operator in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) with a vector potential \(a\in (L_{\text{loc}}^2(\mathbb{R}^d))^d\) and a scalar potential \(V\in L_{\text{loc}}^1 (\mathbb{R}^d)\), \(V\geq 0\). The integrated density of states (IDS) can be defined by \[ \lim_{\Omega\to\mathbb{R}^d} |\Omega|^{-1} N_\Omega(\lambda), \] where \(N_\Omega(\lambda)\) is the number of eigenvalues less than \(\lambda\) of the operator \(L\) restricted to a bounded domain \(\Omega\) with appropriate boundary conditions, or by \[ \lim_{\Omega\to\mathbb{R}^d} |\Omega|^{-1} \operatorname {tr} (\psi_\Omega E_\lambda(L) \psi_\Omega), \] where \(\psi_\Omega\) denotes the multiplication operator by the characteristic function of \(\Omega\) and \(E_\lambda(L)\) denotes the spectral projection of \(L\) (as a selfadjoint operator on \(L^2(\mathbb{R}^d))\). The authors prove the coincidence of the two definitions and also the independence of the IDS of the boundary conditions (Dirichlet or Neumann), but not the existence of the two limits. The proof is based only on the fundamental items in functional analysis, such as the min-max principle, etc.