Nonlinear homogeneous perturbation of the discrete spectrum of a self-adjoint operator and a new constrained saddle point theorem (Q2368686)

This article deals with eigenvalues of operators \(T + N\), where \(T\) is a self-adjoint operator in a real infinite-dimensional separable Hilbert space \(H\) and \(N\) is a positively homogeneous and completely continuous gradient operator in \(H\). The main result is the following: if \(\lambda_1 > \ldots > \lambda_k > M_e(T)\) are \(k\) eigenvalues of \(T\) (with \(M_e(T) = \sup \, \sigma_e(T)\), where \(\sigma_e(T)\) is the essential spectrum of \(T\)), and \[ q(N) - p(N) < \min \;\{\lambda_1 - \lambda_2, \ldots , \lambda_{k-1} - \lambda_k\}, \quad M_e(T) < \lambda_k + p(N) \] \[ \left(p(N) = \inf_{\| u\| = 1} (Nu,u), \qquad q(N) = \sup_{\| u\| = 1} (Nu,u)\right), \] then \(T + N\) has \(k\) eigenvalues \(\hat{\lambda}_1 > \ldots > \hat{\lambda}_k > M_e(T)\) and, moreover, \[ \lambda_i + p(N) \leq \hat{\lambda}_i \leq \lambda_i + q(N) \qquad (i = 1, \ldots , n). \] This theorem is based on the following critical point theorem for \( C^1\) functionals. Let \(f \in C^1(H,{\mathbb R})\) and \(H = V \oplus W\) (\(\dim V < \infty\)), \[ f(u) \geq \beta \;\;(u \in S \cap V), \quad f(u) \leq \alpha \;\;(u \in S \cap W) \] with \(\alpha < \beta\) and \(S = \{u \in H: \;\| u\| = 1\}\). If \(f_S\) satisfies the Palais--Smale condition in \([\beta,\infty)\), then \[ c = \sup\limits_{A \in {\mathcal A}} \;\inf_{u \in A} \;f(u) \quad (\text{with }{\mathcal A} = \{A \subset S \setminus W: \;A \;\text{compact, noncontractible in} \;S \setminus W\}) \] is a critical point with \(c \geq \beta\). Furthermore, if \(V_0\) is a nontrivial subspace of \(V\) and \(f(u) \leq \gamma\) on \(S \cap (V_0 \oplus W))\), then \(\beta \leq c \leq \gamma\). At last, if \(W_0\) is a finite-dimensional subspace of \(W\), \(f(u) \geq \theta\) on \(S \cap (V \oplus W_0)\), and \(f_S\) satisfies the Palais--Smale condition in \([\theta,\infty)\), then \(f_S\) has a second critical value \[ d = \sup_{\gamma \in \Gamma} \;\inf_{u \in B \cap V} \;f(\gamma(u)) \quad (\text{with }\Gamma = \{\gamma: \;B \cap V \to S: \;\gamma \;\text{continuous}, \;\gamma(u) = u \;(u \in S \cap V)\}) \] (where \(B = \{u \in H: \;\| u\| \leq 1\}\)) with \(\theta \leq d \leq \alpha\).