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In this paper a class of oscillatory integrals is interpreted as a limit of Lebesgue integrals with Gaussian regularizers. The convergence of the regularized integrals is shown with an improved version of iterative integration by parts that generates additional decaying factors and hence leads to better integrability properties. The general abstract results are then applied to the Cauchy problem for the one dimensional time dependent Schr\"odinger equation, where the solution is expressed for C^n-regular initial conditions with polynomial growth at infinity via the Green's function as an oscillatory integral.

We prove an abstract criterion on spectral instability of nonnegative selfadjoint extensions of a symmetric operator and apply this to self-adjoint Neumann Laplacians on bounded Lipschitz domains, intervals, and graphs. Our results can be viewed as variants of the classical weak coupling phenomenon for Schr\"odinger operators in $L^2(\mathbb R^n)$ for $n=1,2$., Comment: to appear in Proc. Amer. Math. Soc

For a family of self-adjoint Dirac operators $-i c (\alpha \cdot \nabla) + \frac{c^2}{2}$ subject to generalized MIT bag boundary conditions on domains in $\mathbb R^3$ it is shown that the nonrelativistic limit in the norm resolvent sense is the Dirichlet Laplacian. This allows to transfer spectral geometry results for Dirichlet Laplacians to Dirac operators for large $c$., Comment: Revised version

The notion of quasi boundary triples and their Weyl functions from extension theory of symmetric operators is extended to the general framework of adjoint pairs of operators under minimal conditions on the boundary maps. With the help of the corresponding abstract Titchmarsh-Weyl $M$-functions sufficient conditions for the unique solvability of the related boundary value problems are obtained and the solutions are expressed via Krein-type resolvent formulae. The abstract theory developed in this manuscript can be applied to a large class of elliptic differential operators.

In this paper we study the self-adjointness and spectral properties of two-dimensional Dirac operators with electrostatic, Lorentz scalar, and anomalous magnetic $\delta$-shell interactions with constant weights that are supported on a smooth unbounded curve that is straight outside a compact set and whose ends are rays that are not parallel to each other. For all possible combinations of interaction strengths we describe the self-adjoint realizations and compute their essential spectra. Moreover, we prove in different situations the existence of geometrically induced discrete eigenvalues., Comment: 35 pages

In this paper the approximation of Dirac operators with general $\delta$-shell potentials supported on $C^2$-curves in $\mathbb{R}^2$ or $C^2$-surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$, which may be bounded or unbounded, is studied. It is shown under suitable conditions on the weight of the $\delta$-interaction that a family of Dirac operators with regular, squeezed potentials converges in the norm resolvent sense to the Dirac operator with the $\delta$-shell interaction., Comment: 58 pages; comments welcome

We study singular Sturm-Liouville operators of the form \[ \frac{1}{r_j}\left(-\frac{\mathrm d}{\mathrm dx}p_j\frac{\mathrm d}{\mathrm dx}+q_j\right),\qquad j=0,1, \] in $L^2((a,b);r_j)$, where, in contrast to the usual assumptions, the weight functions $r_j$ have different signs near the singular endpoints $a$ and $b$. In this situation the associated maximal operators become self-adjoint with respect to indefinite inner products and their spectral properties differ essentially from the Hilbert space situation. We investigate the essential spectra and accumulation properties of nonreal and real discrete eigenvalues; we emphasize that here also perturbations of the indefinite weights $r_j$ are allowed. Special attention is paid to Kneser type results in the indefinite setting and to $L^1$ perturbations of periodic operators.

In the last decade there has been a growing interest in superoscillations in various fields of mathematics, physics and engineering. However, while in applications as optics the local oscillatory behaviour is the important property, some convergence to a plane wave is the standard characterizing feature of a superoscillating function in mathematics and quantum mechanics. Also there exists a certain discrepancy between the representation of superoscillations either as generalized Fourier series, as certain integrals or via special functions. The aim of this work is to close these gaps and give a general definition of superoscillations, covering the well-known examples in the existing literature. Superoscillations will be defined as sequences of holomorphic functions, which admit integral representations with respect to complex Borel measures and converge to a plane wave in the space $\mathcal{A}_1(\mathbb{C})$ of exponentially bounded entire functions.

In this note we provide estimates for the lower bound of the self-adjoint operator associated with the three-coefficient Sturm-Liouville differential expression $$ \frac{1}{r} \left(-\frac{\mathrm d}{\mathrm dx} p \frac{\mathrm d}{\mathrm dx} + q\right) $$ in the weighted $L^2$-Hilbert space $L^2(\mathbb R; rdx)$.

In this article we develop a systematic approach to treat Dirac operators $A_{\eta, \tau, \lambda}$ with singular electrostatic, Lorentz scalar, and anomalous magnetic interactions of strengths $\eta, \tau, \lambda \in \mathbb{R}$, respectively, supported on points in $\mathbb{R}$, curves in $\mathbb{R}^2$, and surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$ that is based on boundary triples and their associated Weyl functions. First, we discuss the one-dimensional case which also serves as a motivation for the multidimensional setting. Afterwards, in the two and three-dimensional situation we construct quasi, generalized, and ordinary boundary triples and their Weyl functions, and provide a detailed characterization of the associated Sobolev spaces, trace theorems, and the mapping properties of integral operators which play an important role in the analysis of $A_{\eta, \tau, \lambda}$. We make a substantial step towards more rough interaction supports $\Sigma$ and consider general compact Lipschitz hypersurfaces. We derive conditions for the interaction strengths such that the operators $A_{\eta, \tau, \lambda}$ are self-adjoint, obtain a Krein-type resolvent formula, and characterize the essential and discrete spectrum. These conditions include purely Lorentz scalar and purely non-critical anomalous magnetic interactions as well as the confinement case, the latter having an important application in the mathematical description of graphene. Using a certain ordinary boundary triple, we show the self-adjointness of $A_{\eta, \tau, \lambda}$ for arbitrary combinations of the interaction strengths (including critical ones) under the condition that $\Sigma$ is $C^{\infty}$-smooth and derive its spectral properties. In particular, in the critical case, a loss of Sobolev regularity in the operator domain and a possible additional point of the essential spectrum are observed., Comment: 56 pages; to appear in Reviews in Mathematical Physics

We develop a sharp boundary trace theory in arbitrary bounded Lipschitz domains which, in contrast to classical results, allows "forbidden" endpoints and permits the consideration of functions exhibiting very limited regularity. This is done at the (necessary) expense of stipulating an additional regularity condition involving the action of the Laplacian on the functions in question which, nonetheless, works perfectly with the Dirichlet and Neumann realizations of the Schr\"odinger differential expression $-\Delta+V$. In turn, this boundary trace theory serves as a platform for developing a spectral theory for Schr\"odinger operators on bounded Lipschitz domains, along with their associated Weyl-Titchmarsh operators. Overall, this pushes the present state of knowledge a significant step further. For example, we succeed in extending the Dirichlet and Neumann trace operators in such a way that all self-adjoint extensions of a Schr\"odinger operator on a bounded Lipschitz domain may be described with explicit boundary conditions, thus providing a final answer to a problem that has been investigated for more than 60 years in the mathematical literature. Along the way, a number of other open problems are solved. The most general geometric and analytic setting in which the theory developed here yields satisfactory results is that of Lipschitz subdomains of Riemannian manifolds and for the corresponding Laplace-Beltrami operator (in place of the standard flat-space Laplacian). In particular, such an extension yields results for variable coefficient Schr\"odinger operators on bounded Lipschitz domains., Comment: 189 pages

In this paper the two-dimensional Dirac operator with a general hermitian $\delta$-shell interaction supported on a straight line is introduced as a self-adjoint operator and its spectral properties are investigated in detail. In particular, it is demonstrated that the singularly continuous spectrum is always empty and that by switching a certain $\delta$-shell interaction on, it is possible to generate an eigenvalue in the gap of the spectrum of the free operator or to partially or even fully close the gap. This suggests that the studied operators may serve as interesting continuum toy-models for Dirac materials. Finally, approximations by Dirac operators with regular potentials are presented., Comment: 3 figures

In this paper we study the spectrum of self-adjoint Schr\"odinger operators in $L^2(\mathbb{R}^2)$ with a new type of transmission conditions along a smooth closed curve $\Sigma\subseteq \mathbb{R}^2$. Although these $\textit{oblique}$ transmission conditions are formally similar to $\delta'$-conditions on $\Sigma$ (instead of the normal derivative here the Wirtinger derivative is used) the spectral properties are significantly different: it turns out that for attractive interaction strengths the discrete spectrum is always unbounded from below. Besides this unexpected spectral effect we also identify the essential spectrum, and we prove a Krein-type resolvent formula and a Birman-Schwinger principle. Furthermore, we show that these Schr\"odinger operators with oblique transmission conditions arise naturally as non-relativistic limits of Dirac operators with electrostatic and Lorentz scalar $\delta$-interactions justifying their usage as models in quantum mechanics., Comment: 16 pages; to appear in Comm. Math. Phys

We develop relative oscillation theory for general Sturm-Liouville differential expressions of the form \[ \frac{1}{r}\left(-\frac{\mathrm d}{\mathrm dx} p \frac{\mathrm d}{\mathrm dx} + q\right) \] and prove perturbation results and invariance of essential spectra in terms of the real coefficients $p$, $q$, $r$. The novelty here is that we also allow perturbations of the weight function $r$ in which case the unperturbed and the perturbed operator act in different Hilbert spaces., Comment: 15 pages

We consider the self-adjoint Landau Hamiltonian $H_0$ in $L^2(\mathbb{R}^2)$ whose spectrum consists of infinitely degenerate eigenvalues $\Lambda_q$, $q \in \mathbb{Z}_+$, and the perturbed operator $H_\upsilon = H_0 + \upsilon\delta_\Gamma$, where $\Gamma \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ is a regular Jordan $C^{1,1}$-curve, and $\upsilon \in L^p(\Gamma;\mathbb{R})$, $p>1$, has a constant sign. We investigate ${\rm Ker}(H_\upsilon -\Lambda_q)$, $q \in \mathbb{Z}_+$, and show that generically $$0 \leq {\rm dim \, Ker}(H_\upsilon -\Lambda_q) - {\rm dim \, Ker}(T_q(\upsilon \delta_\Gamma)) < \infty,$$ where $T_q(\upsilon \delta_\Gamma) = p_q (\upsilon \delta_\Gamma)p_q$, is an operator of Berezin-Toeplitz type, acting in $p_q L^2(\mathbb{R}^2)$, and $p_q$ is the orthogonal projection on ${\rm Ker}\,(H_0 -\Lambda_q)$. If $\upsilon \neq 0$ and $q = 0$, we prove that ${\rm Ker}\,(T_0(\upsilon \delta_\Gamma)) = \{0\}$. If $q \geq 1$, and $\Gamma = \mathcal{C}_r$ is a circle of radius $r$, we show that ${\rm dim \, Ker} (T_q(\delta_{\mathcal{C}_r})) \leq q$, and the set of $r \in (0,\infty)$ for which ${\rm dim \, Ker}(T_q(\delta_{\mathcal{C}_r})) \geq 1$, is infinite and discrete., Comment: 28 pages; to appear in Journal of Spectral Theory

In this note the two dimensional Dirac operator $A_\eta$ with an electrostatic $\delta$-shell interaction of strength $\eta\in\mathbb R$ supported on a straight line is studied. We observe a spectral transition in the sense that for the critical interaction strengths $\eta=\pm 2$ the continuous spectrum of $A_\eta$ inside the spectral gap of the free Dirac operator $A_0$ collapses abruptly to a single point., Comment: 11 pages

The paper deals with singular Schr\"odinger operators of the form \begin{gather*} -{\mathrm{d}^2\over \mathrm{d} x^2 } + \sum_{k\in\mathbb{Z} }\gamma_k \delta(\cdot-z_k),\quad \gamma_k\in\mathbb{R}, \end{gather*} in $\mathsf{L}^2(\ell_-,\ell_+)$, where $(\ell_-,\ell_+)$ is a bounded interval, and $ \delta(\cdot-z_k)$ is the Dirac delta-function supported at $z_k\in (\ell_-,\ell_+)$. It will be shown that the interaction strengths $\gamma_k$ and the points $z_k$ can be chosen in such a way that the essential spectrum and a bounded part of the discrete spectrum of this self-adjoint operator coincide with prescribed sets on a real line., Comment: 39 pages, 3 figures

We study perturbations of the self-adjoint periodic Sturm--Liouville operator \[ A_0 = \frac{1}{r_0}\left(-\frac{\mathrm d}{\mathrm dx} p_0 \frac{\mathrm d}{\mathrm dx} + q_0\right) \] and conclude under $L^1$-assumptions on the differences of the coefficients that the essential spectrum and absolutely continuous spectrum remain the same. If a finite first moment condition holds for the differences of the coefficients, then at most finitely many eigenvalues appear in the spectral gaps. This observation extends a seminal result by Rofe-Beketov from the 1960s. Finally, imposing a second moment condition we show that the band edges are no eigenvalues of the perturbed operator., Comment: 17 pages

In this note we consider the self-adjoint Schr\"odinger operator $\mathsf{A}_\alpha$ in $L^2(\mathbb{R}^d)$, $d\geq 2$, with a $\delta$-potential supported on a Lipschitz hypersurface $\Sigma\subseteq\mathbb{R}^d$ of strength $\alpha\in L^p(\Sigma)+L^\infty(\Sigma)$. We show the uniqueness of the ground state and, under some additional conditions on the coefficient $\alpha$ and the hypersurface $\Sigma$, we determine the essential spectrum of $\mathsf{A}_\alpha$. In the special case that $\Sigma$ is a hyperplane we obtain a Birman-Schwinger principle with a relativistic Schr\"{o}dinger operator as Birman-Schwinger operator. As an application we prove an optimization result for the bottom of the spectrum of $\mathsf{A}_\alpha$., Comment: 23 pages, title was changed, the manuscript is submitted to the Sergey Naboko memorial volume

Superoscillating functions and supershifts appear naturally in weak measurements in physics. Their evolution as initial conditions in the time dependent Schr\"odinger equation is an important and challenging problem in quantum mechanics and mathematical analysis. The concept that encodes the persistence of superoscillations during the evolution is the (more general) supershift property of the solution. In this paper we give a unified approach to determine the supershift property for the solution of the time dependent Schr\"odinger equation. The main advantage and novelty of our results is that they only require suitable estimates and regularity assumptions on the Green's function, but not its explicit form. With this efficient general technique we are able to treat various potentials.

The compression of the resolvent of a non-self-adjoint Schr\"odinger operator $-\Delta+V$ onto a subdomain $\Omega\subset\mathbb R^n$ is expressed in a Krein-Naimark type formula, where the Dirichlet realization on $\Omega$, the Dirichlet-to-Neumann maps, and certain solution operators of closely related boundary value problems on $\Omega$ and $\mathbb R^n\setminus\overline\Omega$ are being used. In a more abstract operator theory framework this topic is closely connected and very much inspired by the so-called coupling method that has been developed for the self-adjoint case by Henk de Snoo and his coauthors., Comment: to appear in the Henk de Snoo 75th birthday topical issue in Complex Analysis and Operator Theory

In this paper we study the time dependent Schr\"odinger equation with all possible self-adjoint singular interactions located at the origin, which include the $\delta$ and $\delta'$-potentials as well as boundary conditions of Dirichlet, Neumann, and Robin type as particular cases. We derive an explicit representation of the time dependent Green's function and give a mathematical rigorous meaning to the corresponding integral for holomorphic initial conditions, using Fresnel integrals. Superoscillatory functions appear in the context of weak measurements in quantum mechanics and are naturally treated as holomorphic entire functions. As an application of the Green's function we study the stability and oscillatory properties of the solution of the Schr\"odinger equation subject to a generalized point interaction when the initial datum is a superoscillatory function.

For a second order formally symmetric elliptic differential expression we show that the knowledge of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map or Robin-to-Dirichlet map for suitably many energies on an arbitrarily small open subset of the boundary determines the self-adjoint operator with a Dirichlet boundary condition or with a (possibly non-self-adjoint) Robin boundary condition uniquely up to unitary equivalence. These results hold for general Lipschitz domains, which can be unbounded and may have a non-compact boundary, and under weak regularity assumptions on the coefficients of the differential expression., Comment: accepted for publication in Inverse Problems

In this expository article some spectral properties of self-adjoint differential operators are investigated. The main objective is to illustrate and (partly) review how one can construct domains or potentials such that the essential or discrete spectrum of a Schr\"odinger operator of a certain type (e.g. the Neumann Laplacian) coincides with a predefined subset of the real line. Another aim is to emphasize that the spectrum of a differential operator on a bounded domain or bounded interval is not necessarily discrete, that is, eigenvalues of infinite multiplicity, continuous spectrum, and eigenvalues embedded in the continuous spectrum may be present. This unusual spectral effect is, very roughly speaking, caused by (at least) one of the following three reasons: The bounded domain has a rough boundary, the potential is singular, or the boundary condition is nonstandard. In three separate explicit constructions we demonstrate how each of these possibilities leads to a Schr\"odinger operator with prescribed essential spectrum.

In this paper we study the time persistence of superoscillations as the initial data of the time dependent Schr\"odinger equation with $\delta$- and $\delta'$-potentials. It is shown that the sequence of solutions converges uniformly on compact sets, whenever the initial data converges in the topology of the entire function space $A_1(\mathbb{C})$. Convolution operators acting in this space are our main tool. In particular, a general result about the existence of such operators is proven. Moreover, we provide an explicit formula as well as the large time asymptotics for the time evolution of a plane wave under $\delta$- and $\delta'$-potentials.

In this paper the spectral and scattering properties of a family of self-adjoint Dirac operators in $L^2(\Omega; \mathbb{C}^4)$, where $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^3$ is either a bounded or an unbounded domain with a compact $C^2$-smooth boundary, are studied in a systematic way. These operators can be viewed as the natural relativistic counterpart of Laplacians with Robin boundary conditions. Among the Dirac operators treated here is also the so-called MIT bag operator, which has been used by physicists and more recently was discussed in the mathematical literature. Our approach is based on abstract boundary triple techniques from extension theory of symmetric operators and a thorough study of certain classes of (boundary) integral operators, that appear in a Krein-type resolvent formula. The analysis of the perturbation term in this formula leads to a description of the spectrum and a Birman-Schwinger principle, a qualitative understanding of the scattering properties in the case that $\Omega$ is unbounded, and corresponding trace formulas., Comment: 48 pages

We provide a limiting absorption principle for self-adjoint realizations of Dirac operators with electrostatic and Lorentz scalar $\delta$-shell interactions supported on regular compact surfaces. Then we show completeness of the wave operators and give a representation formula for the scattering matrix., Comment: Final version

We study the two-dimensional Dirac operator with an arbitrary combination of electrostatic and Lorentz scalar $\delta$-interactions of constant strengths supported on a smooth closed curve. For any combination of the coupling constants a rigorous description of the self-adjoint realizations of the operators is given and the qualitative spectral properties are described. The analysis covers also all so-called critical combinations of coupling constants, for which there is a loss of regularity in the operator domain. In this case, if the mass is non-zero, the resulting operator has an additional point in the essential spectrum, and the position of this point inside the central gap can be made arbitrary by a suitable choice of the coupling constants. The analysis is based on a combination of the extension theory of symmetric operators with a detailed study of boundary integral operators viewed as periodic pseudodifferential operators., Comment: 54 pages. Some changes in the structure of the text

In this article Dirac operators $A_{\eta, \tau}$ coupled with combinations of electrostatic and Lorentz scalar $\delta$-shell interactions of constant strength $\eta$ and $\tau$, respectively, supported on compact surfaces $\Sigma \subset \mathbb{R}^3$ are studied. In the rigorous definition of these operators the $\delta$-potentials are modelled by coupling conditions at $\Sigma$. In the proof of the self-adjointness of $A_{\eta, \tau}$ a Krein-type resolvent formula and a Birman-Schwinger principle are obtained. With their help a detailed study of the qualitative spectral properties of $A_{\eta, \tau}$ is possible. In particular, the essential spectrum of $A_{\eta, \tau}$ is determined, it is shown that at most finitely many discrete eigenvalues can appear, and several symmetry relations in the point spectrum are obtained. Moreover, the nonrelativistic limit of $A_{\eta, \tau}$ is computed and it is discussed that for some special interaction strengths $A_{\eta, \tau}$ is decoupled to two operators acting in the domains with the common boundary $\Sigma$., Comment: contribution to the proceedings of the conference "Advances in Operator Theory with Applications to Mathematical Physics" at the Chapman University, November 12-16, 2018; 20 pages

The spectral properties of the singularly perturbed self-adjoint Landau Hamiltonian $A_\alpha =(i \nabla + A)^2 + \alpha\delta$ in $L^2(R^2)$ with a $\delta$-potential supported on a finite $C^{1,1}$-smooth curve $\Sigma$ are studied. Here $A = \frac{1}{2} B (-x_2, x_1)^\top$ is the vector potential, $B>0$ is the strength of the homogeneous magnetic field, and $\alpha\in L^\infty(\Sigma)$ is a position-dependent real coefficient modeling the strength of the singular interaction on the curve $\Sigma$. After a general discussion of the qualitative spectral properties of $A_\alpha$ and its resolvent, one of the main objectives in the present paper is a local spectral analysis of $A_\alpha$ near the Landau levels $B(2q+1)$. Under various conditions on $\alpha$ it is shown that the perturbation smears the Landau levels into eigenvalue clusters, and the accumulation rate of the eigenvalues within these clusters is determined in terms of the capacity of the support of $\alpha$. Furthermore, the use of Landau Hamiltonians with $\delta$-perturbations as model operators for more realistic quantum systems is justified by showing that $A_\alpha$ can be approximated in the norm resolvent sense by a family of Landau Hamiltonians with suitably scaled regular potentials., Comment: Merry Christmas

In this note self-adjoint extensions of symmetric operators are investigated by using the abstract technique of quasi boundary triples and their Weyl functions. The main result is an extension of Theorem 2.6 in [5] which provides sufficient conditions on the parameter in the boundary space to induce self-adjoint realizations. As an example self-adjoint Robin Laplacians on the half-space with boundary conditions involving an unbounded coefficient are considered.

The spectral properties of non-self-adjoint extensions $A_{[B]}$ of a symmetric operator in a Hilbert space are studied with the help of ordinary and quasi boundary triples and the corresponding Weyl functions. These extensions are given in terms of abstract boundary conditions involving an (in general non-symmetric) boundary operator $B$. In the abstract part of this paper, sufficient conditions for sectoriality and m-sectoriality as well as sufficient conditions for $A_{[B]}$ to have a non-empty resolvent set are provided in terms of the parameter $B$ and the Weyl function. Special attention is paid to Weyl functions that decay along the negative real line or inside some sector in the complex plane, and spectral enclosures for $A_{[B]}$ are proved in this situation. The abstract results are applied to elliptic differential operators with local and non-local Robin boundary conditions on unbounded domains, to Schr\"odinger operators with $\delta$-potentials of complex strengths supported on unbounded hypersurfaces or infinitely many points on the real line, and to quantum graphs with non-self-adjoint vertex couplings., Comment: to appear in Journal of Functional Analysis

For the pair $\{-\Delta, -\Delta-\alpha\delta_\mathcal{C}\}$ of self-adjoint Schr\"{o}dinger operators in $L^2(\mathbb{R}^n)$ a spectral shift function is determined in an explicit form with the help of (energy parameter dependent) Dirichlet-to-Neumann maps. Here $\delta_{\cal{C}}$ denotes a singular $\delta$-potential which is supported on a smooth compact hypersurface $\mathcal{C}\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ and $\alpha$ is a real-valued function on $\mathcal{C}$., Comment: 22 pages, this was originally part of arXiv:1609.08292, the latter will soon be resubmitted to the archive in a shortened form that is to appear in Math. Annalen

The spectrum of the singular indefinite Sturm-Liouville operator $$A=\text{\rm sgn}(\cdot)\bigl(-\tfrac{d^2}{dx^2}+q\bigr)$$ with a real potential $q\in L^1(\mathbb R)$ covers the whole real line and, in addition, non-real eigenvalues may appear if the potential $q$ assumes negative values. A quantitative analysis of the non-real eigenvalues is a challenging problem, and so far only partial results in this direction were obtained. In this paper the bound $$|\lambda|\leq |q|_{L^1}^2$$ on the absolute values of the non-real eigenvalues $\lambda$ of $A$ is obtained. Furthermore, separate bounds on the imaginary parts and absolute values of these eigenvalues are proved in terms of the $L^1$-norm of the negative part of $q$., Comment: to appear in Proc. Amer. Math. Soc