MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCHR

ODINGER OPERATOR: SPECTRAL

THEORY AND RELATED RESULTS
AGUS L. SOENJAYA
1
Abstract. In this exposition, we study the multidimensional Schr odinger operator.
In particular, we study various conditions for its self-adjointness and give some prop-
erties of its spectrum. We also study some properties of its eigenfunctions. Related
results are also explored.
Contents
1. Introduction and Overview 1
2. Preliminary Results 2
3. Self-Adjointness of Schrodinger Operator 4
4. Properties and Characterizations of the Spectrum 10
5. Properties of Eigenfunctions 15
6. Conclusion 17
References 17
1. Introduction and Overview
The Schrodinger operator is of fundamental importance in quantum mechanics, in
that it completely determines the time evolution of a quantum-mechanical system via
the postulated Schrodinger equation
i
t
= H (1.1)
where is the wavefunction and H is the Schrodinger operator given by
H =

2
2m
+V (x) (1.2)
where is the Laplacian, and V (x) is a multiplication operator determined by the
potential of the system. For simplicity, we take the coecients to be unity, so that
H = +V (x) (1.3)
It is postulated that the observables in quantum mechanics correspond to a self-adjoint
operator. Although the operator is self-adjoint in the Sobolev space H
2
(R
n
), the
operator H is not always so, and this depends on the potential of a specic system.
Our rst task is to determine conditions for V for which H is self-adjoint.
Furthermore, given a specic potential V in the Schrodinger operator, it is important
to nd the characterization of its spectrum. This is because the collection of eigenvalues
of H determines the possible energy values of the system. In particular, the smallest
eigenvalue corresponds to the ground state energy, while its corresponding eigenfunction
corresponds to the ground state. We will also study some properties of the essential
spectrum and some conditions under which the spectrum is discrete in this exposition.
1
2 AGUS L. SOENJAYA
Finally, related to this notion of spectrum, it is also of interest to explore some
conditions under which the spectrum is negative, positive, or bounded. We will also
study some results related to the bound on the number of eigenvalues.
2. Preliminary Results
In this section, we will collect some important results from functional analysis and
theory of PDE. We assume that the reader is familiar with these and other results (as
encountered in say, rst graduate course in analysis or theory of PDE). Detailed proofs
and explanations can be found in [2] or [5]. Other results which are used subsequently,
but are not familiar to the reader, may also be found in these references.
Denition 2.1 (Weak Derivative). Suppose u, v L
1
loc
(U), and is a multiindex. v
is the -th weak partial derivative of u, written D

u = v, provided
_
U
uD

dx = (1)
||
_
U
v dx (2.1)
for all test functions C

c
(U).
Denition 2.2 (Sobolev Space). The Sobolev space W
k,p
(U) consists of all locally
integrable functions u : U R such that for all multiindex with [[ k, D

u exists
in the weak sense and belongs to L
p
(U).
If u W
k,p
(U), dene its norm to be
|u|
W
k,p
(U)
=
_
_
_
_

||k
_
U
[D

u[
p
dx
_
1/p
if 1 p < ,

||k
ess sup
U
[D

u[ if p =
(2.2)
It can be checked that W
k,p
(U) is a Banach space for k = 1, . . . and 1 p .
Moreover, we will usually write H
k
(U) = W
k,2
(U), where the letter H is used since it
is a Hilbert space.
Denition 2.3 (Schwartz Space). Dene the Schwartz space, o(R
n
), to be
o(R
n
) := f C

(R
n
) [ sup
xR
n
[x

f(x)[ < for all multi-indices , (2.3)

Denition 2.4. The space of tempered distributions o

(R
n
) is the dual of the Schwartz
space. In other words, a distribution S is a tempered distribution if and only if
lim
m
sup
xR
n [x

m
(x)[ = 0 for all multi-indices , implies lim
m
S(
m
) = 0.
We now extend the denition of Sobolev spaces H
k
(R
n
) to include the case k R.
Denition 2.5. Let k R. We dene
H
k
(R
n
) := f o

(R
n
) [ (1 +[[
2
)
k/2

f() L
2
(R
n
) (2.4)
where

f is the Fourier transform of f, with the norm given by
|f|
H
k
(R
n
)
=
__
R
n
(1 +[[
2
)
k
[

f()[
2
d
_
1/2
(2.5)
We will also need the following results on theory of PDE and Sobolev spaces, whose
details can be found in [5].
Theorem 2.6 (Sobolev Embedding Theorem). Let W
k,p
(R
n
) and W
l,q
(R
n
) be Sobolev
spaces. If k > l and 1 p < q are such that (k l)p < n and
1
q
=
1
p

kl
n
, then
W
k,p
(R
n
) W
l,q
(R
n
), and the embedding is continuous.
MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCHR

ODINGER OPERATOR 3
Theorem 2.7 (Rellich-Kondrachov Compactness Theorem). Let U R
n
be an open,
bounded Lipschitz domain, and let 1 p < n. Let p

=
np
np
. Then the Sobolev space
W
1,p
(U) is continuously embedded into L
p

(U), and is compactly embedded into L

q
(U)
for every 1 q < p

.
Theorem 2.8 (Local Elliptic Regularity). Suppose that u H
1
loc
(U) is a weak solution
of the equation
u +cu = f(x), x U
where c is a constant, i.e.
_
U
(u(x)(x) +cu(x)(x)) dx = f,
for every C

c
(U), and f H
m
loc
(U), where m 0 is an integer. Then u
H
m+2
loc
(U), and for every relatively compact subset U
2
of U and U
1
of U
2
,
|u|
H
m+2
(U
1
)
C
_
|f|
H
m
(U
2
)
+|u|
L
2
(U
2
)
_
,
where C depends on c, m, U
1
, U
2
.
Theorem 2.9 (Weak Maximum Principle). Suppose that c 0 and u C
2
(U)C(U).
If u +cu 0 in U, then
max
U
u max
U
u
+
where u
+
= maxu, 0.
Next, we recall some denitions of various classes of operators. All operators are
linear unless otherwise specied.
Denition 2.10. Let X, Y be two Banach spaces. An operator A : D(A) X Y is
closed if for every sequence x
n
in D(A) converging to x X such that Ax
n
y Y
as n , we have x D(A) and Ax = y. Equivalently, A is closed if its graph is
closed in the direct sum X Y .
Denition 2.11. Let 1
1
and 1
2
be complex Hilbert spaces. Let A : 1
1
1
2
be
an operator such that D(A) = 1
1
. The adjoint operator A

: 1
2
1
1
is dened as
follows. The domain D(A

) consists of all vectors g 1

2
with the property
g

1
1
such that Af, g = f, g

, f D(A)
Since D(A) is dense in 1
1
, g

is uniquely dened, and we set A

g = g

. In particular,
Af, g = f, A

g, f D(A), g D(A

)
Denition 2.12. Let 1 be a complex Hilbert space. Let A : 1 1 be an operator
with D(A) = 1. We say A is symmetric if Af, g = f, A

g for all f, g D(A),

where A

is the adjoint of A. If in addition D(A) = D(A

), then A is a self-adjoint
operator. An essentially self-adjoint operator is a symmetric operator having a unique
self-adjoint extension.
Denition 2.13. A self-adjoint operator A is positive if there is a constant > 0 such
that
Af, f |f|
2
, f D(A) (2.6)
A is non-negative if is allowed to be zero. We write A > 0 and A 0 respectively.
If (2.6) holds with some R, A is said to be semi-bounded.
4 AGUS L. SOENJAYA
Denition 2.14. Let A : 1 1 be an operator. We say that z C belongs to
the resolvent set of A if the inverse operator R
z
= (A zI)
1
exists, is bounded, and
D(R
z
) = 1. The operator function R
z
is called the resolvent of A. The complement
of the resolvent set is called the spectrum, (A), of A.
We will also need following results related to functional analysis and operator theory.
Proposition 2.15. Let A be a self-adjoint operator. If A > 0 (resp. A 0), then
(A) (0, +) (resp. (A) [0, +)).
Theorem 2.16 (Closed Graph Theorem). Let T : X Y be an operator between
Banach spaces X and Y . Then T is continuous if and only if T is closed.
Theorem 2.17 (Spectral Decomposition). Let A be a self-adjoint operator on 1. We
have that f D(A) if and only if
_
+

2
dE

f, f =
_
+

2
d|E

f|
2
<
Moreover, for f D(A) the last integral coincides with |Af|
2
and
Af =
_
+

d(E

f)
where E

is an orthogonal family of projectors having certain properties, called the

decomposition of identity. For more details, refer to [8].
Further results and more detailed discussions concerning the spectrum of an operator
can be found in [4].
3. Self-Adjointness of Schr odinger Operator
In this section, we will investigate some sucient conditions for the self-adjointness
of Schrodinger operator and give some examples. The rst result concerning the self-
adjointness of the Schrodinger operator H is given by the Sears theorem. We begin
with a lemma, whose proof can be found in [1].
Lemma 3.1. Let the potential V (x) satisfy the condition V (x) Q([x[) for some
increasing positive function Q(x). Then if f D(H

), we have
_
R
n
[f(x)[
2
Q(2[x[)
dx < (3.1)
Theorem 3.2 (Sears Theorem). Let the potential V (x) satisfy the condition V (x)
Q([x[) where Q(x) is an increasing positive continuous function on [0, ) such that
_

0
dx
_
Q(2x)
= (3.2)
Then H is essentially self-adjoint on H
2
(R
n
).
Proof. It suces to show that H

is symmetric. Let f
1
, f
2
D(H

). Let g
i
= f
i
+
V (x)f
i
for i = 1, 2 so that g
1
L
2
(R
n
). We will show that
_
R
n
f
1
g
2
=
_
R
n
g
1
f
2
(3.3)
MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCHR

ODINGER OPERATOR 5
Suppose f
i
o(R
n
) for i = 1, 2. Then
_
|x|t
f
1
g
2
g
1
f
2
=
_
|x|t
f
1
f
2
f
1
f
2
=
_
|x|t
(f
2
f
1
f
1
f
2
)
=
_
|x|=t
_
f
2
f
1
r
f
1
f
2
r
_
(3.4)
The above also holds for f
1
, f
2
H
2
loc
(R
n
), and in particular for all f
1
, f
2
D(H

).
Dene
(t) :=
1
_
Q(2t)
Multiplying (3.4) by (t) and integrating, we have
_
T
0
(t)
_
_
|x|t
(f
1
g
2
g
1
f
2
) dx
_
dt =
_
T
0
(t)
__
t
0
I()
_
dt (3.5)
where I(t) :=
_
|x|=t
(f
1
g
2
g
1
f
2
) dS, so that
_

0
[I(t)[ dt < (3.6)
Dene
P(T) :=
_
T
0
(t) dt
so that the RHS of (3.5) becomes
_
T
0
(t)
__
t
0
I()
_
dt =
_
T
0
I()
__
T

(t) dt
_
d =
_
T
0
(P(T) P())I() d
(3.7)
Now, we will estimate the RHS of (3.4) using Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality and Lemma
3.1.

_
T
0
(t)
_
_
|x|=t
f
2
f
1
r
dS
_
dt

_
|x|T
([x[)f
2
(x)
f
1
(x)
r
dx

|f
2
|
L
2
(R
n
)
_
_
|x|T

2
([x[)

f
1
(x)
r

2
dx
_
1/2
|f
2
|
L
2
(R
n
)
_
R
n
Q
1
([2x[)[f
1
[
2
dx C
for some C R. Proceed similarly for the other half, and we have the inequality

_
T
0
(P(T) P(t))I(t) dt

K (3.8)
for some K R. Now, divide both sides by P(T) and let T . By the assumption,
this implies P(T) as well. Hence the above implies
lim
T
_
T
0
_
1
P(t)
P(T)
_
I(t) dt = 0 (3.9)
6 AGUS L. SOENJAYA
Now since
_
[I(x)[ dx < , we can choose > 0, R > 0 such that
_

R
[I(t)[ dt < .
Fixing R, if we take T > R, we get

_
R
0
_
1
P(t)
P(T)
_
I(t) dt

_
T
0
_
1
P(t)
P(T)
_
I(t) dt

+
As T , using (3.9), we nd that
_

0
I(t) dt = 0 which is what we wanted.
Example 3.3. Let V (x) = [x[

, where > 0. Then the condition of the above

theorem is satised for 0 and any , and for < 0 and 2.
In the following, we will establish some propositions which lead to another condition
to guarantee self-adjointness.
Proposition 3.4. Let A be a closed, symmetric operator in a Hilbert space 1, and
R. Then the following statements are equivalent:
(1) A is self-adjoint.
(2) There exists R such that ker(A

iI) = 0.
(3) There exists R such that im(AiI) = 1.
Proof. (i) (ii).
Clearly (i) implies (ii) since the spectrum of every self-adjoint operator is real.
(ii) (iii).
First, note that im(A iI) is a closed subspace of 1. Since (A iI)

= A

iI,
we have ker(A

iI) = [im(AiI)]

, and so (ii) and (iii) are equivalent.

(iii) (i).
Since D(A) D(A

), we only need to prove D(A

) D(A). Let f D(A

) and
h = (A

+ iI)f. By (iii), there exist g D(A) such that (A + iI)g = h. Since

A is symmetric, Ag = A

g, so that (A

+ iI)f = h = (A

+ iI)g. This implies

(A

+iI)(f g) = 0. Then by (ii), f = g and f D(A). Thus A is self-adjoint.

Corollary 3.5. Let A be a symmetric operator. Then A is essentially self-adjoint if
and only if ker(A

+iI) = 0 for some R.

The following is another version of the above proposition.
Proposition 3.6. Let A be a closed, nonnegative, symmetric operator. Then A is
self-adjoint if and only if ker(A

+I) = 0 for some > 0.

Corollary 3.7. Let A be a nonnegative symmetric operator. Then A is essentially
self-adjoint if and only if ker(A

+I) = 0 for some > 0

We will now make several denitions before proving Katos inequality.
Denition 3.8. For any function u, dene the complex signum function,
(sgn u)(x) =
_
0, u(x) = 0,
u(x)[u(x)[
1
, u(x) ,= 0
and the mollied absolute value of u by
u

(x) = ([u(x)[
2
+
2
)
1/2
From the above, clearly we have lim
0
u

(x) = [u(x)[ pointwise and [u(x)[ =

u(sgn u).
MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCHR

ODINGER OPERATOR 7
Denition 3.9. Let C

0
(R
n
), 0, and
_
R
n
dx = 1. Dene

(x) =
n

_
x

_
and
(I

u)(x) = (

u)(x) =
_
R
n

(x y)u(y) dy
The function I

u is called the mollication or regularization of u, and the family of

operators I

, > 0, is an approximate identity.

We list down several important properties of approximate identity (see [5] for more
details):
(1) If u L
1
loc
(R
n
), then I

u C

(R
n
).
(2) I

commutes with partial derivatives

x
i
.
(3) The map I

: L
p
(R
n
) L
p
(R
n
) is bounded, with norm less than or equal 1.
(4) For any u L
p
(R
n
), lim
0
|I

u u|
L
p = 0.
(5) For any u L
1
loc
(R
n
), I

u u in L
1
loc
(R
n
).
Theorem 3.10 (Katos Inequality). Let u L
1
loc
(R
n
). Suppose that the Laplacian
u L
1
loc
(R
n
). Then
[u[ (sgnu)u (3.10)
in the sense of distributions.
Proof. Let u C

(R
n
). We will show (3.10) holds pointwise except where [u[ is not
dierentiable. Then we have
u

= Re uu (3.11)
Since u

[u[, we have
[u

[ u
1

[u[[u[ [u[ (3.12)

Taking divergence of (3.11), we get
[u

[
2
+u

= [u[
2
+ Re uu
so that together with (3.12), this implies u

Re uu, i.e.
u

Re [(sgn

u)u], (3.13)
where sgn

u = uu
1

.
Note that if [u[ is smooth, then we have u

[u[ and sgn

u sgn u pointwise
as 0. Now for the general case u L
1
loc
(R
n
), replacing u with I

u in (3.13), we
have
(I

u)

Re [sgn

(I

u)(I

u)]
and passing to the limit as 0, then as 0, we get the required result.
From Katos inequality, we have the following sucient condition for (essential) self-
adjointness.
Theorem 3.11. Let V L
2
loc
(R
n
) and V 0. Then H is essentially self-adjoint.
8 AGUS L. SOENJAYA
Proof. Clearly H is a nonnegative symmetric operator. By Corollary 3.7, it is sucient
to prove that ker(H

+I) = 0. To this end, suppose

u +V u +u = 0 (3.14)
for some u L
2
(R
n
) in the sense of distributions. We will show that u = 0.
Note that V u L
1
loc
(R
n
) since u L
2
(R
n
) and V L
2
loc
(R
n
). Furthermore, u
L
1
loc
(R
n
). Thus by (3.14), u L
1
loc
(R
n
). Applying Katos inequality, we have
[u[ Re [(sgn u)u] = Re [(sgn u)(V + 1)(u)] = [u[(V + 1) 0
so that I

[u[ = I

[u[ 0. Clearly, I

[u[ 0. On the other hand, I

[u[ D().
This follows from the fact that [u[ L
2
(R
n
) and

x
i
I

f =
_
R
n

x
i

(x y)f(y) dy
Now
(I

[u[), (I

[u[) = |(I

[u[)|
2
L
2
0
Since the left-hand side is nonnegative, we must have (I

[u[) = 0, so that I

[u[ = c
0. Now since [u[ L
2
(R
n
), c = 0, and hence [u[ = 0, proving the result.
In the following, we will study yet another approach to the problem by exploring the
Kato-Rellich theorem.
Denition 3.12. Let A and B be closed operators in 1. Then B is said to be A-
bounded if D(A) D(B).
Proposition 3.13. If (A) ,= C and B is A-bounded, then there exists a 0 and b 0
such that
|Bu| a|Au| +b|u| (3.15)
for all u D(A).
Proof. Let |u|
A
:= (|u|
2
+|Au|
2
)
1/2
be the graph norm on D(A). Now A is closed if
and only if D(A) is complete with respect to ||
A
. Moreover, ||
A
is induced by an inner
product u, v
A
= u, v +Au, Av. Denote by 1
A
the space D(A) equipped with this
inner product. Then 1
A
is a Hilbert space. Now if z , (A), dene R
A
(z) = (AzI)
1
,
a bounded operator from 1 onto 1
A
. Since B is A-bounded, we have BR
A
(z) is
everywhere dened on 1. Observe that BR
A
(z) is a closed operator on 1. By the
closed graph theorem, BR
A
(z) is bounded, i.e. there exists a 0 such that
|BR
A
(z)f| a|f|, f 1 (3.16)
For any f 1, we have
u = R
A
(z)f D(A)
and every u D(A) can be written in this form. Hence f = (AzI)u and (3.16) imply
|Bu| = |BR
A
(z)f| a|(AzI)u| a|Au| +b|u|
with b = [z[a as required.
The inmum of all a in (3.15) is called the A-bound of B, which in general depends
on a. If B is A-bounded, then it follows from (3.15) that there exists a constant c > 0
such that |Bu| c|u|
A
for u 1
A
, i.e. B : 1
A
1 is bounded. Conversely, if B is
a bounded operator from 1
A
into H, then B is A-bounded.
Before proving the Kato-Rellich theorem, we begin with a lemma.
MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCHR

ODINGER OPERATOR 9
Lemma 3.14. Let A be a self-adjoint and B be A-bounded with A-bound a. Then
|B(AiI)
1
| a +b[[
1
for all R0 and for some b > 0. The A-bound of B is given by
a = lim
||
|BR
A
(i)|
Proof. Since A is self-adjoint, we have
|(AiI)u|
2
= |Au|
2
+[[
2
|u|
2
so that |Au| |(A iI)u|. Setting u = R
A
(i)v yields |AR
A
(i)| 1. Similarly,
from inequality [[|u| |(AiI)u|, we get |R
A
(i)| [[
1
. Now we have
|BR
A
(i)u| a|AR
A
(i)u| +b|R
A
(i)u| (a +b[[
1
)|u|
from which the result follows.
This inequality also proves that limsup
||
|BR
A
(i)| a. On the other hand,
|Bu| = |BR
A
(i)(AiI)u| |BR
A
(i)| (|Au| +[[|u|)
The above inequality and the denition of A-bound imply that a liminf
||
|BR
A
(i)|
from which the second result follows.
Theorem 3.15 (Kato-Rellich Theorem). Let A be a self-adjoint operator, and B be
a closed, symmetric, A-bounded operator with A-bound less than 1. Then A +B, with
D(A+B) = D(A), is a self-adjoint operator.
Proof. First note that A+B is closed on D(A). We have
A+B iI = [I +BR
A
(i)](AiI)
Now since a < 1, |BR
A
(i)| < 1 for [[ suciently large by Lemma 3.14. This implies
I + BR
A
(i) is an invertible operator. Since A iI is invertible, it follows that
(A + B iI) is invertible. It then follows that (A + B iI) is also invertible. In
particular, im(A+B iI) = 1, and so by Proposition 3.4, A+B is self-adjoint.
We have a more concrete sucient criterion for self-adjointness as an application of
the above theorem.
Theorem 3.16. Let V L
2
(R
3
) + L

(R
3
) and real-valued. Then the operator H =
+V , with D(H) = D() = H
2
(R
3
) is self-adjoint.
Proof. Let V = V
1
+V
2
where V
1
L
2
(R
3
) and V
2
L

(R
3
). Since
|V
2
u|
L
2 |V
2
|
L
|u|
L
2
the multiplication by V
2
is bounded with -bound 0. Now, since is self-adjoint,
i , () for all R0 We have
|V
1
R

(i)f|
L
2 |V
1
|
L
2|R

(i)f|
L

provided the L

-norm is nite. We will prove this niteness.

In R
3
, we have the following integral representation for R

(i) (see [9]):

(R

(i)f)(x) =
1
4
_
R
3
e
(i)
1/2
|xy|
[x y[
1
f(y) dy
By Youngs inequality for convolution, we have
|R

(i)f|
L
|f|
L
2|G

|
L
2
10 AGUS L. SOENJAYA
where
G

(x) =
1
4
exp
_
(i)
1/2
[x[
_
[x[
1
and |G

|
L
2 is nite. Moreover, it can also be checked that lim

|G

|
L
2 = 0. This
means for any > 0, we can nd > 0 such that |G

|
L
2 |V
1
|
1
L
2
. It follows that
for all suciently large,
|V
1
R

(i)f|
L
|f|
L
2
By argument similar to that in the proof of Proposition 3.13, we have
|V
1
u| |u| +|u|, u D()
This and -boundedness of V
2
implies that V is -bounded with -bound 0. We then
apply Kato-Rellich theorem to get the result.
Applying the above result to a concrete example of hydrogen atom, we have the
following.
Example 3.17. The Hamiltonian of the hydrogen atom has potential given by
V (x) =
e
2
[x[
Let B be a unit ball in R
3
. Then V =
B
V +(1
B
)V where
B
is the characteristic
function of B. Then it can be seen that V L
2
(R
3
)+L

(R
3
). Hence the corresponding
Hamiltonian operator H is self-adjoint, as expected.
Remark 3.18. More generally, the conclusion of Theorem 3.16 holds under the condition
that V L
p
(R
n
) +L

(R
n
), where p > n/2. The proof of this can be found in [4].
4. Properties and Characterizations of the Spectrum
The spectrum of Schrodinger operator determines the energy level of a quantum
system. In this section, we will study some properties of the spectrum and other
important results concerning the spectral theory of Schrodinger operator.
Let A be a self-adjoint operator in a Hilbert space 1 and E

be its decomposition of
identity. Recall that E

+ := lim

+ E

= E

in the sense of strong operator topology.

We set E

:= lim

in the strong operator topology. Introduce the distribution

function N() of the spectrum of A by the formula
N() = dim(E

1)
where this value may be +. Letting N(

) = lim

N(), we see that N(

) =
dim(E

1). Note that in general N(

+
) := lim

+ N() may not be equal to N().

We will now state and prove a variational principle called the Glazmans lemma.
Proposition 4.1 (Glazmans Lemma). Let D D(A) be a linear subspace such that
A is essentially self-adjoint on D. Then for every R, we have
N(

) = supdimL : L D, Au, u < u, u for all u L0 (4.1)

Proof. Suppose that L D and
Au, u < u, u, u L0 (4.2)
MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCHR

ODINGER OPERATOR 11
We will show that dimL N(

). Suppose otherwise. Then L (E

1)

,= 0.
Indeed if L (E

1)

= 0, then the projector E

maps L into E

1 injectively,
which implies that dimL dim(E

1) = N(

). Now let
0 ,= u (E

1)

L0
Then we have Au, u u, u which contradicts (4.2). Hence dimL N(

).
Now, we will prove the inequality in the other direction. First note that
E

= lim
N
E(N, )
where E(N, ) = E

E
N
. Hence,
N(

) = lim
N
dim[E(N, )1]
Denote the right-hand side of (4.1) by g

. Therefore, it suces to prove that

dimE(N, )1 g

, N <
To this end choose an orthonormal basis in E(N, )1, and let e
1
, . . . , e
p
be a nite
number of its elements. We prove now that p g

, which implies the required result.

Now since E(N, )1 D(A), we have e
j
D(A), for j = 1, . . . , p. Hence for every
> 0, there exists e
1
, . . . , e
p
D such that
|e
j
e
j
| < , |Ae
j
Ae
j
| < , for j = 1, . . . , p
since essential self-adjointness of A implies that D is dense in D(A) with respect to the
graph norm. If L = spane
1
, . . . , e
p
, then there is an > 0 such that dimL = p (this
follows from the non-degeneracy of the matrix (e
i
, e
j
)
p
i,j=1
for suciently small > 0.
Moreover, L satises (4.2). Hence p g

and the result is proven.

Another version of Glazmans lemma is also useful.
Proposition 4.2. For every self-adjoint operator A and R, we have
N() = supdimL : L D(A), Au, u u, u for all u L
We can now study the following theorem, from which the discreteness of the spectrum
follows.
Theorem 4.3. Suppose V L

loc
(R
n
) and liminf
|x|
V (x) a. Then the operator
H = + V is self-adjoint, bounded below, and for each a

< a, (H) (.a

)
consists of a nite number of eigenvalues of nite multiplicity.
Proof. Clearly, V (x) C for some C. First, we consider
H, =
_
R
n
( +V (x)) dx, D(H)
We will show that
H, =
_
R
n
_
[[
2
+V (x)[[
2
_
dx, D(H) (4.3)
The above identity can be easily veried for C

c
(R
n
). In the general case, we will
rst show that the above integral is nite.
Local elliptic regularity implies that if D(H), then H
2
loc
(R
n
). Hence the
integral in (4.3), with R
n
replaced by any ball, is nite. Let b inf V (x) 1. Since
L
2
(R
n
), the niteness of the above integral is equivalent to the following
H
b
(, ) =
_
R
n
_
[[
2
+ (V (x) b)[[
2

dx < , D(H)
12 AGUS L. SOENJAYA
Finiteness of the quadratic form H
b
(, ) implies that
_
R
n
[[
2
dx < , and
_
R
n
(1 +[V (x)[) [[
2
dx < (4.4)
The form H
b
(, ) is generated by the following Hermitian form:
H
b
(
1
,
2
) =
_
R
n
_

2
+ (V (x) b)
1

dx
which is nite provided
1
and
2
satisfy (4.4).
For C

c
(R
n
), we have
((H bI), ) = H
b
(, ) (4.5)
where the left-hand side is continuous with respect to the graph norm (||
2
+|H|
2
)
1/2
on D(H). Hence the same is true for H
b
(, ) and, by continuity, H
b
is well-dened on
D(H).
We have the inequality
||
2
H
1
(R
n
)
H
b
(, ), C

c
(R
n
)
Therefore, convergence of elements of C

c
(R
n
) with respect to the graph norm implies
their convergence in | |
H
1
(R
n
)
. By completeness of H
1
(R
n
), we have D(H) implies
H
1
(R
n
), i.e. L
2
(R
n
) and the rst inequality in (4.4) holds.
Similarly, the weighted L
2
-space
L
2
(R
n
, 1 +[V (x)[) =
_
L
2
(R
n
) [
_
R
n
(1 +[V (x)[)[(x)[
2
dx <
_
is complete, which implies that L
2
(R
n
, 1+[V (x)[) provided D(H). Thus, every
D(H) satises (4.4), and the niteness of the integral (4.3), which is equivalent to
(4.4), follows immediately.
Next, by a version of Glazmans lemma (Proposition 4.2), we have to show that if
a

< a and L is a subspace of D(H) such that

H, a

, , L, (4.6)
then L is nite dimensional. By the earlier argument, we can rewrite (4.6) as
_
R
n
_
[[
2
+ (V (x) a

)[[
2

dx 0, L (4.7)
Fix (0, aa

) and R > 0 such that V (x) a

+ for [x[ R, and let M = inf V (x).

If C > 0 and C > M +a

, then (4.7) implies

_
|x|R
[[
2
dx +
_
|x|R
_
[[
2
+[[
2

dx C
_
|x|R
[[
2
dx, L (4.8)
Consider an operator A : L L
2
(B
R
) dened by A : [
B
R
, where B
R
is the
ball of radius R centered at 0. The space L is considered with the topology induced
from L
2
(R
n
). Now, A is continuous and inequality (4.8) implies that ker A = 0. It
now suces to show that

L := AL is a nite dimensional subspace of L
2
(B
R
). Clearly,

L H
1
(B
R
) and by (4.8), we have
||
H
1
(B
R
)
C
1
||
L
2
(B
R
)
,

L
Therefore, the identity operator I in

L can be represented as a composition of the
embedding

L H
1
(B
R
) which is continuous, and the embedding H
1
(B
R
) L
2
(B
R
)
MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCHR

ODINGER OPERATOR 13
which is compact. Thus I is a compact operator. Hence

L is nite dimensional, and
the proof is complete.
We then have the following corollary.
Corollary 4.4. If V L

loc
(R
n
) and lim
|x|
V (x) = +, then (H) is discrete.
Next, we will consider some characterizations of the essential spectrum of the Hamil-
tonian,
ess
(H). Recall that
ess
(H) consists of all non-isolated points of (H) and
eigenvalues of innite multiplicity. In other words,
ess
(H) if and only if the space
E(( , + ))1 is innite dimensional for all > 0, where E(I) is the spectral
projector associated with an interval I R.
Denition 4.5. Let A be a self-adjoint operator in a Hilbert space 1 with the domain
D(A) and C is an operator with the domain D(C) D(A). We say that C is relatively
compact with respect to A if the operator C(AzI)
1
is compact for some z C(A).
We will need the following results related to perturbation of self-adjoint operator in
the course of proving next theorem. For further details, see [8].
Proposition 4.6. An operator C is relatively compact with respect to A if and only if
it is compact as an operator from D(A) into 1.
Theorem 4.7. Let A be a self-adjoint operator and C be a symmetric operator with
D(C) D(A). Suppose that C is relatively compact with respect to A. Then the
operator B = A+C, with D(B) = D(A), is self-adjoint and
ess
(B) =
ess
(A).
In the following, we will show that the essential spectrum is stable under perturba-
tions of the potential satisfying certain conditions.
Theorem 4.8. Consider the operators H
0
:= + V
0
and H := + V , where
V = V
0
+ V
1
. Suppose that V
0
L

loc
(R
n
) is bounded below, V
1
L

loc
(R
n
), and
lim
|x|
V
1
(x) = 0. Then
ess
(H) =
ess
(H
0
).
Proof. We will prove that the multiplication operator by V
1
is relatively compact with
respect to H
0
. The result then follows from Theorem above. By Proposition , we need
to show that the multiplication operator by V
1
is a compact operator from the space
D(H
0
) (with the graph norm) into L
2
(R
n
). Since D(H
0
) can be continuously embedded
into H
1
(R
n
), it suces to prove that this operator is a compact operator from H
1
(R
n
)
into L
2
(R
n
).
Dene the set
S = V
1
u : u H
1
(R
n
), |u|
H
1
(R
n
)
1
We need to show that S is a precompact set in L
2
(R
n
). Fix > 0. By the assumption
given, there exists an R > 0 such that [V (x)[ whenever [x[ R. Now, let B
R
denotes the ball of radius R centered at the origin, and let B
c
R
be its complement in
R
n
. Also, let
B
R
be the characteristic function of B
R
. Then we have
|
B
c
R
V u|
2
L
2
(R
n
)
=
_
B
c
R
[V (x)[
2
[u(x)[
2
dx
2
|u|
2
L
2
(R
n
)

2
On the other hand, the set
S

=
B
R
V
1
u : u S
is precompact in L
2
(R
n
). Indeed by the Rellich-Kondrachov compactness theorem
(Theorem 2.7), the embedding H
1
(R
n
) L
2
loc
(R
n
) is compact and the elements of S

14 AGUS L. SOENJAYA
vanish outside B
R
. Now we have that S lies in an -neighbourhood of a precompact
set S

, with arbitrary > 0. Hence S is precompact as required.

As an immediate corollary, we have the following.
Corollary 4.9. Suppose that V L

loc
(R
n
) and lim
|x|
V (x) = 0. Then
ess
(H) =
[0, +).
In fact, under further assumption, we can prove the absence of positive eigenvalues
as the following result (due to Kato) shows. The proof is omitted here due to its length,
and can be found in [1].
Theorem 4.10. Let V L

loc
(R
n
) and lim
|x|
[x[V (x) = 0. Then H has no positive
eigenvalues, i.e. if H = with > 0 and D(H), then 0.
We will do further characterization of the spectrum. Next, we will study some
conditions on the potential for which the spectrum contains or is contained in the
interval [0, +). This is a rather special property, and here we highlight only several
criteria. To do that we need the following lemma.
Lemma 4.11. A number R lies in the spectrum (H) of a self-adjoint operator H
if and only if there exists a sequence of functions f
n
D(H) with |f
n
| = 1 such that
lim
n
|Hf
n
f
n
| = 0
Proof. We will only prove the if part. Suppose a sequence f
n
with the above property
exists, then the inverse operator (HI)
1
, if it exists, cannot be bounded. Therefore
(H). For the converse, refer to [4].
Theorem 4.12. Suppose that either V L
p
(R
n
) + L

(R
n
) for some p > n/2 or
0 V L
1
loc
(R
n
). Suppose there exists a sequence of balls B
m
:= B(a
m
, r
m
) with
centres a
m
and radii r
m
, such that
lim
m
r
m
= + and lim
m
|V [
Bm
|
L

(R
n
)
= 0
Then [0, +) (H).
Proof. Let C

c
(R
n
) be a function with support in B(0, 1). Let
m
(x) := ((x
a
m
)/r
m
) and f
m
(x) := e
iwx

m
(x), where w R
n
. Then we have supp(f
m
) B
m
and
Hf
m
= [w[
2
e
iwx

m
2ie
iwx
w
m
e
iwx

m
+V e
iwx

m
Therefore
|Hf
m
[w[
2
f
m
|
L
2
(R
n
)
2|w
m
|
L
2
(R
n
)
+|
m
|
L
2
(R
n
)
+|V [
Bm
|
L

(R
n
)
|
m
|
L
2
(R
n
)
and
lim
m
|Hf
m
[w[
2
f
m
|
L
2
(R
n
)
|f
m
|
L
2
(R
n
)
lim
m
_
c
1
r
1
m
+c
2
r
2
m
+|V [
Bm
|
L

(R
n
)
_
= 0
This implies that [w[
2
(H) by Lemma 4.11 above. The proof is completed by letting
w range over the whole of R
n
.
Example 4.13. Consider the n-body Schrodinger operator describing the interaction
of n particles of equal mass. We label the points in R
3n
by x = (x
1
, . . . , x
n
), where
x
r
R
3
describes the position of the r-th particle. Then we write
Hf(x) :=
n

r=1

xr
f(x) +

1r<sn
V (x
r
x
s
)f(x)
MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCHR

ODINGER OPERATOR 15
and assume that V L
p
(R
3
) +L

(R
3
) for some p >
3
2
.
Suppose that lim
|x|
V (x) = 0, then [0, +) (H).
Proof. We need to consider a conguration in which the distance between every pair
of particles increases to +. Let u be a unit vector in R
3
, and put
a
m
:= (mu, 2mu, . . . , nmu) R
3n
and r
m
:= m/3. It can then be seen that if x := (x
1
, . . . , x
n
) B(a
m
, r
m
), we have
[x
r
x
s
[ m/3 for all r ,= s. Hence the hypothesis of Theorem 4.12 is satised and
the conclusion follows.
Here, we also mention the following criterion for the spectrum to be contained in
[0, +), whose proof can be found in [4]. Some results concerning the negative spec-
trum can also be found in the same book.
Theorem 4.14. Let V = V
+
V

, where V
+
and V

are the positive and negative parts

of V respectively. If V

(x)
(n2)
2
4|x|
2
, where x R
n
, and n 3, then (H) [0, +).
5. Properties of Eigenfunctions
In this section, we will study some basic properties of the eigenfunctions. First, we
begin by mentioning the following analytic property of the eigenfunctions for the sake
of completeness, which we will not prove here as it uses more intricate estimates and
regularity theorem. The reader is referred to [1] for more details.
Theorem 5.1. Let V L

loc
(R
n
) and bounded below. Let u be a generalized eigenfunc-
tion of H, that is u is the distributional solutions of
u +V (x)u = u
which are not necessarily in L
2
(R
n
), i.e.
, u +, V u = , u
for all C

0
(R
n
), where , u is the value of the distribution u at the test function
. Then u is continuous. If, in addition, u L
2
(R
n
), then lim
|x|
u(x) = 0.
The next result concerns the decay property of the eigenfunctions. It is natural to
expect that the more rapid the growth of the potential, the more rapid will the decay
of the eigenfunctions be, i.e. the occurrence of a quantum particle at a point with large
potential energy is less probable, the greater the energy.
Theorem 5.2. Suppose that V L

loc
(R
n
) and bounded below. Let be an eigenfunc-
tion of H with the eigenvalue < a. Then for every > 0, there exists C

> 0 such
that
[(x)[ C

exp
_

_
a
2
[x[
_
Proof. First, we recall some facts about the fundamental solution of + k
2
, i.e. a
solution of
E
k
+k
2
E
k
= (x)
There exists such a solution with the property that E
k
C

(R
n
0) and the asymp-
totic behaviour
E
k
(x) = c[x[

n1
2
e
k|x|
(1 +o(1)) as x
16 AGUS L. SOENJAYA
where c > 0. Moreover, E
k
is radially symmetric (see [5]). In the case n = 3,
E
k
(x) =
1
4[x[
e
k|x|
Now let be a real-valued eigenfunction of H, with eigenvalue < a. For simplicity,
assume that V is smooth enough for large [x[. Then by the elliptic regularity, is
smooth for those x, i.e. is a classical solution. We have
(
2
) = 2 + 2()
2
and therefore
(
2
) = 2( V (x))
2
2()
2
Adding 2(b )
2
to both sides, we have
[ + 2(b )]
2
= 2(V (x) b)
2
2()
2
Here we assume that b < a, and hence the right hand side is nonpositive for suciently
large [x[. Let
u(x) =
2
ME
k
(x)
for some constant M to be chosen later and k =
_
2(b ) (here < b < a). Choose
R such that E
k
(x) > 0, V (x) > b and (x) is smooth for [x[ R. Next, choose M > 0
such that u(x) < 0 for [x[ = R. This is possible by the continuity of E(x) and (x) on
the sphere [x[ = R. We have
u +k
2
u = f 0 for [x[ R
where here
f = 2(V (x) b)
2
2()
2
Let u

be the regularization of u (as in Denition 3.9). Enlarging R if necessary, we

obtain that
( +k
2
)u

= f

0
Since u L
1
(R
n
), we have that u

(x) 0 as [x[ . Dene the following region

R,
:= x : R [x[
and
M

() = max
|x|=
[u

(x)[
We have u

(x) < 0 if [x[ = R and suciently small. By the maximum principle

(Theorem 2.9), we have
u

(x) M

() for x
R,
Letting , we have u

(x) 0 if [x[ R. Passing to the limit as 0, we have

u(x) 0 if [x[ R, and this implies the required result.
We then have the following corollary.
Corollary 5.3. Suppose that V L

loc
(R
n
) and is bounded below. If V (x) + as
[x[ , then
[(x)[ C
a
e
a|x|
for every a > 0.
MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCHR

ODINGER OPERATOR 17
There are various intricate estimates for the bound of eigenfunctions. Here we men-
tion one result, whose proof can be found in [1].
Theorem 5.4. Suppose that V L

loc
(R
n
) and is bounded below. Suppose further that
for large [x[
V (x) c[x[

for some c > 0 and > 0. Then for each eigenfunction , we have
[(x)[ C exp
_
a[x[

2
+1
_
for some C > 0 and a > 0.
In particular, for the potential of the form mentioned in Example 3.3, we can apply
the above result to get a bound for the eigenfunctions.
6. Conclusion
In this exposition, we have studied some properties of the Schrodinger operator. In
particular, we have provided some criteria under which it is self-adjoint. We also studied
its spectral properties. Lastly, we studied the decay properties of its eigenfunctions.
The study of Schrodinger operator, motivated by quantum mechanics, is an area of
active research in Mathematics. Here, we provided just a taste of the type of problems
encountered and the results obtained in this area. Further and more complete treat-
ments of the spectral theory of Schrodinger operator can be found in [1] or the series
of books by B. Simon (one of them being [9]). There are also numerous literatures and
monographs covering various aspects of the theory.
References
1. F.A. Berezin, M.A. Shubin, The Schrodinger Equation, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991.
2. H. Brezis, Functional Analysis, Sobolev Spaces and Partial Dierential Equations, Springer, New
York, 2011.
3. J.B. Conway, A Course in Functional Analysis, 2nd Edition, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1990.
4. E.B. Davies, Spectral Theory and Dierential Operators, Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathe-
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1
Department of Mathematics, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
E-mail address: agus.leonardi@nus.edu.sg