Potential scattering and the continuity of phase-shifts

Abstract: Let

S (k)

be the scattering matrix for a Schr"odinger operator (Laplacian plus potential) on

R R^{n}

with compactly supported smooth potential. It is well known that

S (k)

is unitary and that the spectrum of

S (k)

accumulates on the unit circle only at 1; moreover,

S (k)

depends analytically on

k

and therefore its eigenvalues depend analytically on

k

provided the values stay away from 1. We give examples of smooth, compactly supported potentials on

R R^{n}

for which (i) the scattering matrix

S (k)

does not have 1 as an eigenvalue for any

k > 0

, and (ii) there exists

k_{0} > 0

such that there is an analytic eigenvalue branch

e^{2 i d e l t a (k)}

of S(k)

c o n v e r g i n g t o 1 a s

k downarrow k_0

. T h i s s h o w s t h a t t h e e i g e n v a l u e s o f t h e s c a t t e r i n g m a t r i x, a s a f u n c t i o n o f

k

RR^3$ claimed in a 1989 paper of R. Newton is incorrect.

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