Eigenfunction expansions for the Schrödinger equation with an inverse-square potential

Abstract

We consider the one-dimensional Schr\"odinger equation $-f"+q_\kappa f = Ef$ on the positive half-axis with the potential $q_\kappa(r)=(\kappa^2-1/4)r^{-2}$. For each complex number $\vartheta$, we construct a solution $u^\kappa_\vartheta(E)$ of this equation that is analytic in $\kappa$ in a complex neighborhood of the interval $(-1,1)$ and, in particular, at the "singular" point $\kappa = 0$. For $-1<\kappa<1$ and real $\vartheta$, the solutions $u^\kappa_\vartheta(E)$ determine a unitary eigenfunction expansion operator $U_{\kappa,\vartheta}\colon L_2(0,\infty)\to L_2(\mathbb R,\mathcal V_{\kappa,\vartheta})$, where $\mathcal V_{\kappa,\vartheta}$ is a positive measure on $\mathbb R$. We show that every self-adjoint realization of the formal differential expression $-\partial^2_r + q_\kappa(r)$ for the Hamiltonian is diagonalized by the operator $U_{\kappa,\vartheta}$ for some $\vartheta\in\mathbb R$. Using suitable singular Titchmarsh-Weyl $m$-functions, we explicitly find the measures $\mathcal V_{\kappa,\vartheta}$ and prove their continuity in $\kappa$ and $\vartheta$.