Analytic proof of dual variational formula for the first eigenvalue in dimension one

Abstract

The first non-zero eigenvalue is the leading term in the spectrum of a self-adjoint operator. It plays a critical role in various applications and is treated in a large number of textbooks. There is a well-known variational formula for it (called the Min-Max Principle) which is especially effective for an upper bound of the eigenvalue. However, for the lower bound of the spectral gap, some dual variational formulas have been obtained only very recently. The original proofs are probabilistic. Some analytic proofs in one-dimensional case are proposed and certain extension is made.