Spectral stability of general non-negative selfadjoint operators with applications to Neumann-type operators (Q868832)

Let \(\Omega_i\), \(i=1,2\), be non-empty open subsets in \(\mathbb {R}^n\) and \(H_i\) second-order uniformly elliptic linear operators with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions and corresponding eigenvalue sequences \((\lambda_{n,i})_n\), \(i=1,2\). Then results of the type \[ \lambda_{n,1} \leq \lambda_{n,2} \leq \lambda_{n,1} + c_n \varepsilon \] are known, assuming that \(\Omega_1\) is of class \(C^2\) and \((\Omega_1)_\varepsilon \subset \Omega_2 \subset \Omega_1\) where \(\varepsilon\) is sufficiently small. In contrast to this (and further related results) there is in general no continuous dependence of the eigenvalues upon domain perturbation in case of homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions and compact resolvents. However, under certain additional conditions like \(\Omega_i\) of class \(C^{0,\gamma}\), \(0<\gamma\leq 1\), the first-named author and \textit{E. B. Davies} proved in [J. Differ. Equations 186, No. 2, 485--508 (2002; Zbl 1042.35035)] that \[ | \lambda_{n,1}-\lambda_{n,2}| \leq c_n \varepsilon^\gamma. \] The main aim of the present paper is to improve and generalize this estimate. For this reason there are introduced the concepts of a transition operator \(T_{12}\) and a measure of vicinity \(\delta(H_1,H_2)\). For non-negative selfadjoint linear operators \(H_1\), \(H_2\) in \(L^2(\Omega)\), Theorem 3.2 gives a criterion for the estimate \(\lambda_{n,2} \leq \lambda_{n,1} + c_n \delta(H_1,H_2)\) in terms of the transition operator. This central result is afterwards illustrated by a number of examples and applied to further theorems as mentioned above. In Section 4 there are refinements of the type \(| \lambda_{n,1}-\lambda_{n,2}| \leq c_n | \Omega_1 \triangle \Omega_2| ^{1-2/p}\), \(2<p\leq\infty\), where \(\Omega_1 \triangle \Omega_2\) is the symmetric difference and \(p\) is connected with the regularity of the eigenfunctions \(\varphi_n\). In Section 5 this regularity is studied in detail, resulting in assertions of \(\varphi\) in appropriate Sobolev spaces \(W^{m,p}(\Omega)\). Finally, the last section deals with questions of spectral stability of elliptic operators with Neumann boundary conditions.