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Nonlocally-induced (fractional) bound states: Shape analysis in the infinite Cauchy well

Fractional (Lévy-type) operators are known to be spatially nonlocal. This becomes an issue if confronted with a priori imposed exterior Dirichlet boundary data. We address spectral properties of the prototype example of the Cauchy operator $(-Δ)^{1/2}$ in the interval $D=(-1,1) \subset R$, with a focus on functional shapes of lowest eigenfunctions and their fall-off at the boundaries of $D$. New high accuracy formulas are deduced for approximate eigenfunctions. We analyze how their shape reproduction fidelity is correlated with the evaluation finesse of the corresponding eigenvalues.