Spectral Theory

The intention of this book is to introduce students to active areas of research in mathematical physics in a rather direct way minimizing the use of abstract mathematics. The main features are geometric methods in spectral analysis, exponential decay of eigenfunctions, semi-classical analysis of bound state problems, and semi-classical analysis of resonance. A new geometric point of view along with new techniques are brought out in this book which have both been discovered within the past decade. This book is designed to be used as a textbook, unlike the competitors which are either too fundamental in their approach or are too abstract in nature to be considered as texts. The authors' text fills a gap in the marketplace.

This textbook offers a concise introduction to spectral theory, designed for newcomers to functional analysis. Curating the content carefully, the author builds to a proof of the spectral theorem in the early part of the book. Subsequent chapters illustrate a variety of application areas, exploring key examples in detail. Readers looking to delve further into specialized topics will find ample references to classic and recent literature. Beginning with a brief introduction to functional analysis, the text focuses on unbounded operators and separable Hilbert spaces as the essential tools needed for the subsequent theory. A thorough discussion of the concepts of spectrum and resolvent follows, leading to a complete proof of the spectral theorem for unbounded self-adjoint operators. Applications of spectral theory to differential operators comprise the remaining four chapters. These chapters introduce the Dirichlet Laplacian operator, Schrödinger operators, operators on graphs, and the spectral theory of Riemannian manifolds. Spectral Theory offers a uniquely accessible introduction to ideas that invite further study in any number of different directions. A background in real and complex analysis is assumed; the author presents the requisite tools from functional analysis within the text. This introductory treatment would suit a functional analysis course intended as a pathway to linear PDE theory. Independent later chapters allow for flexibility in selecting applications to suit specific interests within a one-semester course.

This book discusses the mathematical foundations of quantum theories. It offers an introductory text on linear functional analysis with a focus on Hilbert spaces, highlighting the spectral theory features that are relevant in physics. After exploring physical phenomenology, it then turns its attention to the formal and logical aspects of the theory. Further, this Second Edition collects in one volume a number of useful rigorous results on the mathematical structure of quantum mechanics focusing in particular on von Neumann algebras, Superselection rules, the various notions of Quantum Symmetry and Symmetry Groups, and including a number of fundamental results on the algebraic formulation of quantum theories. Intended for Master's and PhD students, both in physics and mathematics, the material is designed to be self-contained: it includes a summary of point-set topology and abstract measure theory, together with an appendix on differential geometry. The book also benefits established researchers by organizing and presenting the profusion of advanced material disseminated in the literature. Most chapters are accompanied by exercises, many of which are solved explicitly."

This textbook provides a graduate-level introduction to the spectral theory of linear operators on Banach and Hilbert spaces, guiding readers through key components of spectral theory and its applications in quantum physics. Based on their extensive teaching experience, the authors present topics in a progressive manner so that each chapter builds on the ones preceding. Researchers and students alike will also appreciate the exploration of more advanced applications and research perspectives presented near the end of the book. Beginning with a brief introduction to the relationship between spectral theory and quantum physics, the authors go on to explore unbounded operators, analyzing closed, adjoint, and self-adjoint operators. Next, the spectrum of a closed operator is defined and the fundamental properties of Fredholm operators are introduced. The authors then develop the Grushin method to execute the spectral analysis of compact operators. The chapters that follow are devoted to examining Hille-Yoshida and Stone theorems, the spectral analysis of self-adjoint operators, and trace-class and Hilbert-Schmidt operators. The final chapter opens the discussion to several selected applications. Throughout this textbook, detailed proofs are given, and the statements are illustrated by a number of well-chosen examples. At the end, an appendix about foundational functional analysis theorems is provided to help the uninitiated reader. A Guide to Spectral Theory: Applications and Exercises is intended for graduate students taking an introductory course in spectral theory or operator theory. A background in linear functional analysis and partial differential equations is assumed; basic knowledge of bounded linear operators is useful but not required. PhD students and researchers will also find this volume to be of interest, particularly the research directions provided in later chapters.

I had mixed feelings when I thought how I should prepare the book for the second edition. It was clear to me that I had to correct all mistakes and misprints that were found in the book during the life of the first edition. This was easy to do because the mistakes were mostly minor and easy to correct, and the misprints were not many. It was more difficult to decide whether I should update the book (or at least its bibliography) somehow. I decided that it did not need much of an updating. The main value of any good mathematical book is that it teaches its reader some language and some skills. It can not exhaust any substantial topic no matter how hard the author tried. Pseudodifferential operators became a language and a tool of analysis of partial differential equations long ago. Therefore it is meaningless to try to exhaust this topic. Here is an easy proof. As of July 3, 2000, MathSciNet (the database of the American Mathematical Society) in a few seconds found 3695 sources, among them 363 books, during its search for "pseudodifferential operator". (The search also led to finding 963 sources for "pseudo-differential operator" but I was unable to check how much the results ofthese two searches intersected). This means that the corresponding words appear either in the title or in the review published in Mathematical Reviews.

This book is dedicated to the spectral theory of linear operators on Banach spaces and of elements in Banach algebras. It presents a survey of results concerning various types of spectra, both of single and n-tuples of elements. Typical examples are the one-sided spectra, the approximate point, essential, local and Taylor spectrum, and their variants. Many results appear here for the first time in a monograph.

This book presents the basic tools of modern analysis within the context of the fundamental problem of operator theory: to calculate spectra of specific operators on infinite dimensional spaces, especially operators on Hilbert spaces. The tools are diverse, and they provide the basis for more refined methods that allow one to approach problems that go well beyond the computation of spectra: the mathematical foundations of quantum physics, noncommutative K-theory, and the classification of simple C*-algebras being three areas of current research activity which require mastery of the material presented here.

A signi?cant sector of the development of spectral theory outside the classical area of Hilbert space may be found amongst at multipliers de?ned on a complex commutative Banach algebra A. Although the general theory of multipliers for abstract Banach algebras has been widely investigated by several authors, it is surprising how rarely various aspects of the spectral theory, for instance Fredholm theory and Riesz theory, of these important classes of operators have been studied. This scarce consideration is even more surprising when one observes that the various aspects of spectral t- ory mentioned above are quite similar to those of a normal operator de?ned on a complex Hilbert space. In the last ten years the knowledge of the spectral properties of multip- ers of Banach algebras has increased considerably, thanks to the researches undertaken by many people working in local spectral theory and Fredholm theory. This research activity recently culminated with the publication of the book of Laursen and Neumann [214], which collects almost every thing that is known about the spectral theory of multipliers.