arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E B Davies.
We give an account of some results, both old and new, about any $n\times n$ Markov matrix that is embeddable in a one-parameter Markov semigroup. These include the fact that its eigenvalues must lie in a certain region in the unit ball. We prove that a well-known procedure for approximating a non-embeddable Markov matrix by an embeddable one is optimal in a certain sense.
We give a mathematically rigorous analysis which confirms the surprising results in a recent paper of Benilov, O'Brien and Sazonov about the spectrum of a highly singular non-self-adjoint operator that arises in a problem in fluid mechanics.
We consider perturbations of a large Jordan matrix, either random and small in norm or of small rank. In both cases we show that most of the eigenvalues of the perturbed matrix are very close to a circle with centre at the origin. In the case of random perturbations we obtain an estimate of the number of eigenvalues that are well inside the circle in a certain asymptotic regime. In the case of finite rank perturbations we completely determine the spectral asymptotics as the size of the matrix increases. The paper provides an elementary illustration of some standard techniques of spectral theory.
We prove lower bounds on $||T_t||$, where $T_t$ is a one-parameter semigroup, starting from information on the resolvent norms, i.e. the pseudospectra. We provide a physically important example in which the growth of the semigroup norm cannot be derived from spectral information. The generator is a self-adjoint Schrödinger operator, but the semigroup growth is measured using the $L^1$ norm rather than the $L^2$ norm. Numerical confirmation of the results is provided.
We discuss the problems arising when computing eigenvalues of self-adjoint operators which lie in a gap between two parts of the essential spectrum. Spectral pollution, i.e. the apparent existence of eigenvalues in numerical computations, when no such eigenvalues actually exist, is commonplace in problems arising in applied mathematics. We describe a geometrically inspired method which avoids this difficulty, and show that it yields the same results as an algorithm of Zimmermann and Mertins.
We discuss the extent to which the visibility of the heavens was a necessary condition for the development of science, with particular reference to the measurement of time. Our conclusion is that while astronomy had significant importance, the growth of most areas of science was more heavily influenced by the accuracy of scientific instruments, and hence by current technology.
We describe some numerical experiments which determine the degree of spectral instability of medium size randomly generated matrices which are far from self-adjoint. The conclusion is that the eigenvalues are likely to be intrinsically uncomputable for similar matrices of a larger size. We also describe a stochastic family of bounded operators in infinite dimensions for almost all of which the eigenvectors generate a dense linear subspace, but the eigenvalues do not determine the spectrum. Our results imply that the spectrum of the non-self-adjoint Anderson model changes suddenly as one passes to the infinite volume limit.
We prove sharp L^2 boundary decay estimates for the eigenfunctions of certain second order elliptic operators acting in a bounded region, and of their first order space derivatives, using only the Hardy inequality. We then deduce bounds on the change of the eigenvalues when the region is reduced slightly in size, subject to DBCs.
We review the literature concerning the Hardy inequality for regions in Euclidean space and in manifolds, concentrating on the best constants. We also give applications of these inequalities to boundary decay and spectral approximation.
We propose a method for obtaining rigorous and accurate upper and lower bounds on the eigenvalues of ordinary and partial differential operators in bounded regions of Euclidean space. It uses a boundary condition homotopy method starting from a decomposition of the region into several simpler regions for which the eigenvalues can already be computed accurately. Several numerical examples are presented.
We prove that the spectrum of certain non-self-adjoint Schrodinger operators is unstable in the semi-classical limit. Similar results hold for a fixed operator in the high energy limit. The method involves the construction of approximate semi-classical modes of the operator by the JWKB method for energies far from the spectrum.