Direct and inverse spectral theorems for a class of canonical systems with two singular endpoints

Part I of this paper deals with two-dimensional canonical systems $y'(x)=yJH(x)y(x)$, $x\in(a,b)$, whose Hamiltonian $H$ is non-negative and locally integrable, and where Weyl's limit point case takes place at both endpoints $a$ and $b$. We investigate a class of such systems defined by growth restrictions on H towards a. For example, Hamiltonians on $(0,\infty)$ of the form $H(x):=\begin{pmatrix}x^{-\alpha}&0\\ 0&1\end{pmatrix}$ where $\alpha<2$ are included in this class. We develop a direct and inverse spectral theory parallel to the theory of Weyl and de Branges for systems in the limit circle case at $a$. Our approach proceeds via - and is bound to - Pontryagin space theory. It relies on spectral theory and operator models in such spaces, and on the theory of de Branges Pontryagin spaces. The main results concerning the direct problem are: (1) showing existence of regularized boundary values at $a$; (2) construction of a singular Weyl coefficient and a scalar spectral measure; (3) construction of a Fourier transform and computation of its action and the action of its inverse as integral transforms. The main results for the inverse problem are: (4) characterization of the class of measures occurring above (positive Borel measures with power growth at $\pm\infty$); (5) a global uniqueness theorem (if Weyl functions or spectral measures coincide, Hamiltonians essentially coincide); (6) a local uniqueness theorem. In Part II of the paper the results of Part I are applied to Sturm--Liouville equations with singular coefficients. We investigate classes of equations without potential (in particular, equations in impedance form) and Schr\"odinger equations, where coefficients are assumed to be singular but subject to growth restrictions. We obtain corresponding direct and inverse spectral theorems

A statistical mechanics approach to mixing in stratified fluids

Predicting how much mixing occurs when a given amount of energy is injected into a Boussinesq fluid is a longstanding problem in stratified turbulence. The huge number of degrees of freedom involved in those processes renders extremely difficult a deterministic approach to the problem. Here we present a statistical mechanics approach yielding prediction for a cumulative, global mixing efficiency as a function of a global Richardson number and the background buoyancy profile.Comment: Accepted in Journal of Fluid Mechanic

State independence for tunneling processes through black hole horizons and Hawking radiation

Tunneling processes through black hole horizons have recently been investigated in the framework of WKB theory discovering interesting interplay with the Hawking radiation. In this paper we instead adopt the point of view proper of QFT in curved spacetime, namely, we use a suitable scaling limit technique to obtain the leading order of the correlation function related with some tunneling process through a Killing horizon. The computation is done for certain large class of reference quantum states for scalar fields. In the limit of sharp localization either on the external side or on opposite sides of the horizon, the quantum correlation functions appear to have thermal nature, where in both cases the characteristic temperature is the Hawking one. Our approach is valid for every stationary charged rotating non extremal black hole, however, since the computation is completely local, it covers the case of a Killing horizon which just temporarily exists in some finite region too. These results give a strong support to the idea that the Hawking radiation, which is detected at future infinity and needs some global structures to be defined, is actually related to a local phenomenon taking place even for local geometric structures (local Killing horizons) existing just for a while.Comment: 19 pages, one figure, some comments added, minor errors corrected, accepted for publication in Communications in Mathematical Physic