Generalized principal eigenvalues on $${\mathbb {R}}^{d}$$ of second order elliptic operators with rough nonlocal kernels

Abstract

We study the generalized eigenvalue problem on the whole space for a class of integro-differential elliptic operators. The nonlocal operator is over a finite measure, but this has no particular structure. Some of our results even hold for singular kernels. The first part of the paper presents results concerning the existence of a principal eigenfunction. Then we present various necessary and/or sufficient conditions for the maximum principle to hold, and use these to characterize the simplicity of the principal eigenvalue.