An expansion theory for non-self-adjoint boundary-value problems

Abstract

SynopsisThis paper deals with two-point boundary-value problems for ordinary differential equations and the operators which they induce in the appropriate Hilbert space. The problems arenot required to be self-adjoint. No auxiliary condition such as Birkhoff-regularity is imposed. If T is such an operator, it may well have no meaningful spectral structure. It is shown, however, that when T is composed with its adjoint, the result is a non-negative self-adjoint differential operator. The eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of this composite operator are used to delineate the domain, action, range, and generalised inverse of T.