Approximation of isolated eigenvalues of general singular ordinary differential operators

Let A be a self-adjoint operator defined by a general singular ordinary differential expression τ on an interval (a, b), − ∞ ≤ a < b ≤ ∞. We show that isolated eigenvalues in any gap of the essential spectrum of A are exactly the limits of eigenvalues of suitably chosen self-adjoint realizations An of τ on subintervals (an, bn) of (a, b) with an → a, bn → b. This means that eigenvalues of singular ordinary differential operators can be approximated by eigenvalues of regular operators.