The generalized Birman–Schwinger principle

Abstract

We prove a generalized Birman–Schwinger principle in the non-self-adjoint context. In particular, we provide a detailed discussion of geometric and algebraic multiplicities of eigenvalues of the basic operator of interest (e.g., a Schrödinger operator) and the associated Birman–Schwinger operator, and additionally offer a careful study of the associated Jordan chains of generalized eigenvectors of both operators. In the course of our analysis we also study algebraic and geometric multiplicities of zeros of strongly analytic operator-valued functions and the associated Jordan chains of generalized eigenvectors. We also relate algebraic multiplicities to the notion of the index of analytic operator-valued functions and derive a general Weinstein–Aronszajn formula for a pair of non-self-adjoint operators.