Exotic eigenvalues and analytic resolvent for a graph with a shrinking edge (Q6070332)

This work studies the behavior of the spectrum of the Laplacian on a metric graph when the length of one of its edges approaches \(0\). The authors consider a metric graphs consisting of two edges of lengths \(1\) and \(\epsilon\), connected at one vertex, where a general vertex condition leading to a self-adjoint problem is allowed at the connecting vertex. They prove that the problem can have at most two negative eigenvalues, and that the behavior of the negative eigenvalues is restricted to three types (depending on the vertex condition): bounded, escaping to minus infinity at rate \(\epsilon^{-1}\), and escaping to infinity at rate \(\epsilon^{-\frac{2}{3}}\). They conjecture that this trichotomy holds in general for metric graphs with edges of two scales. The paper also studies the behavior of the corresponding eigenfunctions, and of the resolvent, as \(\epsilon\rightarrow 0\).