Spectral bounds for singular indefinite Sturm-Liouville operators with $L^1$--potentials

Abstract

The spectrum of the singular indefinite Sturm-Liouville operator $$A=\text{\rm sgn}(\cdot)\bigl(-\tfrac{d^2}{dx^2}+q\bigr)$$ with a real potential $q\in L^1(\mathbb R)$ covers the whole real line and, in addition, non-real eigenvalues may appear if the potential $q$ assumes negative values. A quantitative analysis of the non-real eigenvalues is a challenging problem, and so far only partial results in this direction were obtained. In this paper the bound $$|\lambda|\leq |q|_{L^1}^2$$ on the absolute values of the non-real eigenvalues $\lambda$ of $A$ is obtained. Furthermore, separate bounds on the imaginary parts and absolute values of these eigenvalues are proved in terms of the $L^1$-norm of the negative part of $q$.