VII.—On the Spectrum of Ordinary Second Order Differential Operators.

Abstract

SynopsisThis paper considers properties of the spectrum of differential operators derived from differential expressions of the second order. The object is to link the spectral properties of these differential operators with the analytic, function-theoretic properties of the solutions of the differential equation. This provides an alternative approach to the spectral theory of these differential operators but one which is consistent with the standard definitions used in Hilbert space theory. In this way the approach may be of interest to applied mathematicians and theoretical physicists.