The eigenvalue distribution for a degenerate elliptic operator \(-div\{(1- | x| ^ 2)\text{grad}\cdot \}\) (Q808312)

The aim of this paper is to sharpen the asymptotic formula for the eigenvalue distribution of the degenerate operator \(-div\{(1-| x|^ 2)\text{grad} \}\) in the unit ball of \({\mathbb{R}}^ n\). In particular for \(n=2\) the second term is given. The main result for the counting function N(\(\cdot)\) is \[ N(t)=c_ 2t \log t+c'_ 2t+O(t^{1/2})\quad when\quad n=2, \] \[ N(t)=c_ nt^{n-1}+O(t^{n- 3/2})\quad when\quad n\geq 3. \] The principal term has been given earlier by \textit{C. Nordin} [Ark. Mat. 10, 9-21 (1972; Zbl 0234.35074)] and \textit{N. Shimakura} [Proc. Japan. Acad. 45, 866-871 (1969; Zbl 0197.408); 46, 1065-1069 (1970; Zbl 0223.35079)]. The authors method is an elaboration of Shimakura's method, who already had an explicit formula for the eigenvalues.