Inverse localization and global approximation for some Schr\"odinger operators on hyperbolic spaces

Abstract

We consider the question of whether the high-energy eigenfunctions of certain Schr\"odinger operators on the $d$-dimensional hyperbolic space of constant curvature $-\kappa^2$ are flexible enough to approximate an arbitrary solution of the Helmholtz equation $\Delta h+h=0$ on $\mathbf{R}^d$, over the natural length scale $O(\lambda^{-1/2})$ determined by the eigenvalue $\lambda \gg 1$. This problem is motivated by the fact that, by the asymptotics of the local Weyl law, approximate Laplace eigenfunctions do have this approximation property on any compact Riemannian manifold. In this paper we are specifically interested in the Coulomb and harmonic oscillator operators on the hyperbolic spaces $\mathbf{H}^d(\kappa)$. As the dimension of the space of bound states of these operators tends to infinity as $\kappa$ tends to 0, one can hope to approximate solutions to the Helmholtz equation by eigenfunctions for some $\kappa > 0$ that is not fixed a priori. Our main result shows that this is indeed the case, under suitable hypotheses. We also prove a global approximation theorem with decay for the Helmholtz equation on manifolds that are isometric to the hyperbolic space outside a compact set, and consider an application to the study of the heat equation on $\mathbf{H}^d(\kappa)$. Although global approximation and inverse approximation results are heuristically related in that both theorems explore flexibility properties of solutions to elliptic equations on hyperbolic spaces, we will see that the underlying ideas behind these theorems are very different.