The pseudospectrum of an operator with Bessel-type singularities

Abstract

In this paper we examine the asymptotic structure of the pseudospectrum of the singular Sturm-Liouville operator $L={\partial }_x(f{\partial }_x)+{\partial }_x$ subject to periodic boundary conditions on a symmetric interval, where the coefficient $f$ is a regular odd function that has only a simple zero at the origin. The operator $L$ is closely related to a remarkable model examined by Davies in 2007, which exhibits surprising spectral properties balancing symmetries and strong non-self-adjointness. In our main result, we derive a concrete construction of classical pseudo-modes for $L$ and give explicit exponential bounds of growth for the resolvent norm in rays away from the spectrum.

31 pages, 4 figures and 1 table. Paper dedicated to Professor E. Brian Davies FRS on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Carbon copy of the final version which appears in the Journal of Spectral Theory, https://ems.press/journals/jst/articles/14297856