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OP-00347 Open

Full-order resonance growth for every nonzero real compact potential

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Let $d \ge 3$ be odd and let $V \in L^\infty(\mathbb{R}^d)$ be real-valued, compactly supported and not zero almost everywhere. The resolvent $$R_V(z) = (-\Delta + V - z^2)^{-1} : L^2_{\mathrm{comp}}(\mathbb{R}^d) \to L^2_{\mathrm{loc}}(\mathbb{R}^d)$$ continues meromorphically from $\operatorname{Im} z > 0$ to all of $\mathbb{C}$; its poles are the resonances of $V$. Let $N_V(r)$ be the number of resonances $z$ with $|z| \le r$, counted with algebraic multiplicity. Zworski proved that $N_V(r) \le C r^d$ for every bounded compactly supported potential, and Christiansen and Hislop proved that $\limsup_{r \to \infty} \log N_V(r) / \log r = d$ for generic real-valued, and for generic complex-valued, bounded compactly supported potentials. Christiansen and Sá Barreto proved that $\limsup_{r \to \infty} N_V(r)/r > 0$ for every nonzero real-valued $V \in C_c^\infty(\mathbb{R}^d)$. Smith and Zworski proved that every $V$ as above has at least one resonance, and infinitely many if in addition $V \in H^{(d-3)/2}(\mathbb{R}^d)$. Christiansen found complex-valued compactly supported potentials with no resonances at all, in odd dimensions $d \ge 3$.

Problem. Are there, for every such $d$ and $V$, constants $c_V > 0$ and $r_V < \infty$ such that $N_V(r) \ge c_V r^d$ for every $r \ge r_V$?

Source: Zworski (2017), Section 2.7, Conjecture 1, for every odd dimension; stated for odd d ≥ 3 by AIM — Open Applied Problems.

Imported from github.com/MColbrook/AIM.

Classification

Primary
SP — Spectral Theory
Secondary
AP, MP
Keywords
AIM Open Applied Problems, scattering resonances, Schrödinger operators

References

@article{zworski2017,
  author        = {Zworski, Maciej},
  title         = {Mathematical study of scattering resonances},
  journal       = {Bull. Math. Sci.},
  volume        = {7},
  number        = {1},
  year          = {2017},
  pages         = {1--85},
  doi           = {10.1007/s13373-017-0099-4},
  eprint        = {1609.03550},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
}
@article{zworski1989duke,
  author  = {Zworski, Maciej},
  title   = {Sharp polynomial bounds on the number of scattering poles},
  journal = {Duke Math. J.},
  volume  = {59},
  number  = {2},
  year    = {1989},
  pages   = {311--323},
  doi     = {10.1215/S0012-7094-89-05913-9},
}
@article{christiansen2005,
  author        = {Christiansen, T. J. and Hislop, P. D.},
  title         = {The resonance counting function for {S}chr{\"o}dinger operators with generic potentials},
  journal       = {Math. Res. Lett.},
  volume        = {12},
  number        = {6},
  year          = {2005},
  pages         = {821--826},
  doi           = {10.4310/MRL.2005.v12.n6.a4},
  eprint        = {math-ph/0505065},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
}
@article{christiansen1999,
  author  = {Christiansen, T. J.},
  title   = {Some lower bounds on the number of resonances in {E}uclidean scattering},
  journal = {Math. Res. Lett.},
  volume  = {6},
  number  = {2},
  year    = {1999},
  pages   = {203--211},
  doi     = {10.4310/MRL.1999.v6.n2.a8},
}
@article{sabarreto2001,
  author  = {S{\'a} Barreto, Ant{\^o}nio},
  title   = {Remarks on the distribution of resonances in odd dimensional {E}uclidean scattering},
  journal = {Asymptot. Anal.},
  volume  = {27},
  number  = {2},
  year    = {2001},
  pages   = {161--170},
  doi     = {10.3233/ASY-2001-456},
}
@article{smith2016,
  author        = {Smith, Hart F. and Zworski, Maciej},
  title         = {Heat traces and existence of scattering resonances for bounded potentials},
  journal       = {Ann. Inst. Fourier (Grenoble)},
  volume        = {66},
  number        = {2},
  year          = {2016},
  pages         = {455--475},
  doi           = {10.5802/aif.3016},
  eprint        = {1411.5420},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
}
@article{christiansen2006,
  author  = {Christiansen, T. J.},
  title   = {Schr{\"o}dinger operators with complex-valued potentials and no resonances},
  journal = {Duke Math. J.},
  volume  = {133},
  number  = {2},
  year    = {2006},
  pages   = {313--323},
  doi     = {10.1215/S0012-7094-06-13324-0},
}
@misc{aim-full-order-potential-resonances,
  author       = {Brunton, Steve and Colbrook, Matthew J. and de Hoop, Maarten V. and Stepaniants, George and Townsend, Alex and Ward, Rachel},
  title        = {{Full-order resonance growth for every nonzero real compact potential}},
  howpublished = {AIM --- Open Applied Problems, GitHub repository},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://github.com/MColbrook/AIM/blob/a153f469ee0ea64e876b2ad97c79d252c19a3e22/problems/116-full-order-potential-resonances.md},
  note         = {Entry 116 at commit a153f46, 2026-10-13},
}

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OP-00347, "Full-order resonance growth for every nonzero real compact potential", clopen.solutions.