Paper detail

Spectral properties of the Cauchy process

We study the spectral properties of the transition semigroup of the killed one-dimensional Cauchy process on the half-line (0,infty) and the interval (-1,1). This process is related to the square root of one-dimensional Laplacian A = -sqrt(-d^2/dx^2) with a Dirichlet exterior condition (on a complement of a domain), and to a mixed Steklov problem in the half-plane. For the half-line, an explicit formula for generalized eigenfunctions psi_lambda of A is derived, and then used to construct spectral representation of A. Explicit formulas for the transition density of the killed Cauchy process in the half-line (or the heat kernel of A in (0,infty)), and for the distribution of the first exit time from the half-line follow. The formula for psi_lambda is also used to construct approximations to eigenfunctions of A in the interval. For the eigenvalues lambda_n of A in the interval the asymptotic formula lambda_n = n pi/2 - pi/8 + O(1/n) is derived, and all eigenvalues lambda_n are proved to be simple. Finally, efficient numerical methods of estimation of eigenvalues lambda_n are applied to obtain lower and upper numerical bounds for the first few eigenvalues up to 9th decimal point.