We solve for the spectrum of the Laplacian as a Hamiltonian on
R2−D and in R3−B. A
self-adjointness analysis with ∂D and ∂B as
the boundary for the two cases shows that a general class of boundary
conditions for which the Hamiltonian operator is essentially self-adjoint are
of the mixed (Robin) type. With this class of boundary conditions we obtain
"bound state" solutions for the Schroedinger equation. Interestingly, these
solutions are all localized near the boundary. We further show that the number
of bound states is finite and is in fact proportional to the perimeter or area
of the removed \emph{disc} or \emph{ball}. We then argue that similar
considerations should hold for static black hole backgrounds with the horizon
treated as the boundary.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, approximate formula for energy spectrum added at
the end of section 2.1 along with additional minor changes to comply with the
version accepted in PR