An effective Hamiltonian for the eigenvalue asymptotics of a Robin Laplacian with a large parameter

Abstract: We consider the Laplacian on a class of smooth domains $\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^{\nu}$, $\nu\ge 2$, with attractive Robin boundary conditions: [ Q^\Omega_\alpha u=-\Delta u, \quad \dfrac{\partial u}{\partial n}=\alpha u \text{ on } \partial\Omega, \ \alpha>0, ] where $n$ is the outer unit normal, and study the asymptotics of its eigenvalues $E_{j}(Q^\Omega_\alpha)$ as well as some other spectral properties for $\alpha\to+\infty$ We work with both compact domains and non-compact ones with a suitable behavior at infinity. For domains with compact $C^2$ boundaries and fixed $j$, we show that [ E_{j}(Q^\Omega_\alpha)=-\alpha^2+\mu_j(\alpha)+{\mathcal O}(\log \alpha), ] where $\mu_j(\alpha)$ is the $j^{\mbox{th}}$ eigenvalue, as soon as it exists, of $-\Delta_{S}-(\nu-1)\alpha H$ with $(-\Delta_{S})$ and $H$ being respectively the positive Laplace-Beltrami operator and the mean curvature on $\partial\Omega$. Analogous results are obtained for a class of domains with non-compact boundaries. In particular, we discuss the existence of eigenvalues in non-compact domains and the existence of spectral gaps for periodic domains. We also show that the remainder estimate can be improved under stronger regularity assumptions. The effective Hamiltonian $-\Delta_{S}-(\nu-1)\alpha H$ enters the framework of semi-classical Schr\"odinger operators on manifolds, and we provide the asymptotics of its eigenvalues in the limit $\alpha\to+\infty$ under various geometrical assumptions. In particular, we describe several cases for which our asymptotics provides gaps between the eigenvalues of $Q^\Omega_\alpha$ for large $\alpha$.