We discuss the spectral properties of the operator ${}_{ℳ}\left(\alpha \right):=-d²/dt²+(1/2t²-\alpha )²$ on the line. We first briefly describe how this operator appears in various problems in the analysis of operators on nilpotent Lie groups, in the spectral properties of a Schrödinger operator with magnetic field and in superconductivity. We then give a new proof that the minimum over α of the groundstate energy is attained at a unique point and also prove that the minimum is non-degenerate. Our study can also be seen as a refinement for a specific...

In this paper, the general ordinary quasi-differential expression $M_p$ of $n$-th order with complex coefficients and its formal adjoint $M_p^{+}$ on any finite number of intervals $I_p=(a_p,b_p)$, $p=1,\cdots ,N$, are considered in the setting of the direct sums of $L_{w_p}^2(a_p,b_p)$-spaces of functions defined on each of the separate intervals, and a number of results concerning the location of the point spectra and the regularity fields of general differential operators generated by such expressions are obtained. Some of these are extensions or generalizations...

The characterization of the domain of the Friedrichs extension as a restriction of the maximal domain is well known. It depends on principal solutions. Here we establish a characterization as an extension of the minimal domain. Our proof is different and closer in spirit to the Friedrichs construction. It starts with the assumption that the minimal operator is bounded below and does not directly use oscillation theory.

We generalize a well-known separation condition of Everitt and Giertz to a class of weighted symmetric partial differential operators defined on domains in ${ℝ}^n$. Also, for symmetric second-order ordinary differential operators we show that ${lim\; sup}_{t\to c}{\left(p{q}^{\text{'}}\right)}^{\text{'}}/q^2=\theta <2$ where $c$ is a singular point guarantees separation of $-{\left(p{y}^{\text{'}}\right)}^{\text{'}}+qy$ on its minimal domain and extend this criterion to the partial differential setting. As a particular example it is shown that $-\Delta y+qy$ is separated on its minimal domain if $q$ is superharmonic. For $n=1$ the criterion...