On the existence of nodal domains for elliptic differential operators

Abstract

SynopsisWe prove that the selfadjoint elliptic differential equation (1) has rectangular nodal domains if the quadratic form of the equation takes on negative values. The existence of nodal domains is closely connected with the position of the smallest point of the spectrum of the corresponding selfadjoint operator (Friedrichs extension). If the smallest point of a second order selfadjoint differential operator with Dirichlet boundary conditions is an eigenvalue, then this eigenvalue is strictly increasing when the (possibly unbounded) domain, where the coefficients of the differential operator are denned, is shrinking (Theorem 4).