We study nodal sets for typical eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on the standard torus in 2 or more dimensions. Making use of the multiplicities in the spectrum of the Laplacian, we put a Gaussian measure on the eigenspaces and use it to average over the eigenspace. We consider a sequence of eigenvalues with multiplicity N tending to infinity.
The quantity that we study is the Leray, or microcanonical, measure of the nodal set. We show that the expected value of the Leray measure of an eigenfunction is constant. Our main result is that the variance of Leray measure is asymptotically 1/(4 pi N), as N tends to infinity, at least in dimensions 2 and at least 5.
We establish a connection between the stability of an eigenvalue under a magnetic perturbation and the number of zeros of the corresponding eigenfunction. Namely, we consider an eigenfunction of discrete Laplacian on a graph and count the number of edges where the eigenfunction changes sign (has a "zero"). It is known that the $n$-th eigenfunction has $n-1+s$ such zeros, where the "nodal surplus" $s$ is an integer between 0 and the number of cycles on the graph. We then perturb the Laplacian by a weak magnetic field and view the $n$-th eigenvalue as a function of the perturbation. It is shown …
In this thesis, we study Laplacian eigenfunctions on metric graphs, also known as quantum graphs. We restrict the discussion to standard quantum graphs. These are finite connected metric graphs with functions that satisfy Neumann vertex conditions. The first goal of this thesis is the study of the nodal count problem. That is the number of points on which the $n$th eigenfunction vanishes. We provide a probabilistic setting using which we are able to define the nodal count\textquoteright s statistics. We show that the nodal count statistics admit a topological symmetry by which the first Betti …
We study the number of nodal domains of toral Laplace eigenfunctions. Following Nazarov-Sodin's results for random fields and Bourgain's de-randomisation procedure we establish a precise asymptotic result for "generic" eigenfunctions. Our main results in particular imply an optimal lower bound for the number of nodal domains of generic toral eigenfunctions.
In the present survey we present some of the recent results concerning the geometry of nodal lines of random Gaussian eigenfunctions (in case of spectral degeneracies) or wavepackets and related issues. The most fundamental example, where the spectral degeneracy allows us to consider random eigenfunctions (i.e. endow the eigenspace with Gaussian probability measure), is the sphere, and the corresponding eigenspaces are the spaces of spherical harmonics; this model is the primary focus of the present survey. The list of results presented is, by no means, complete.
We give uniform upper and lower bounds for the L^2 norm of the restriction of eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on the three-dimensional standard flat torus to surfaces with non-vanishing curvature. We also present several related results concerning the nodal sets of eigenfunctions.
The paper addresses the the number of nodal domains for eigenfunctions of Schrödinger operators with Dirichlet boundary conditions in bounded domains. In dimension one, the $n$th eigenfunction has $n$ nodal domains. The Courant Theorem claims that in any dimension, the number of nodal domains of the $n$th eigenfunction cannot exceed $n$. However, in dimensions higher than 1 the equality can hold for only finitely many eigenfunctions. Thus, a "nodal deficiency" arises. Examples are known of eigenfunctions with arbitrarily large index $n$ that have just two nodal domains. It was suggested in the…
The nodal domains of eigenvectors of the discrete Schrodinger operator on simple, finite and connected graphs are considered. Courant's well known nodal domain theorem applies in the present case, and sets an upper bound to the number of nodal domains of eigenvectors: Arranging the spectrum as a non decreasing sequence, and denoting by $ν_n$ the number of nodal domains of the $n$'th eigenvector, Courant's theorem guarantees that the nodal deficiency $n-ν_n$ is non negative. (The above applies for generic eigenvectors. Special care should be exercised for eigenvectors with vanishing components.…
This note concerns the nodal sets of eigenfunctions of semiclassical Schrödinger operators acting on compact, smooth, Riemannian manifolds, with no boundary. We prove that if H is a separating hypersurface that lies inside the classically forbidden region, then H cannot persist as a component of the zero set of infinitely many eigenfunctions. In addition, on real analytic surfaces, we obtain sharp upper bounds for the number of intersections of the zero sets of the Schrödinger eigenfunctions with a fixed curve that lies inside the classically forbidden region.
We study the volume of nodal sets for eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on the standard torus in two or more dimensions. We consider a sequence of eigenvalues $4π^2\eigenvalue$ with growing multiplicity $\Ndim\to\infty$, and compute the expectation and variance of the volume of the nodal set with respect to a Gaussian probability measure on the eigenspaces. We show that the expected volume of the nodal set is $const \sqrt{\eigenvalue}$. Our main result is that the variance of the volume normalized by $\sqrt{\eigenvalue}$ is bounded by $O(1/\sqrt{\Ndim})$, so that the normalized volume has vanish…
We consider Gaussian random eigenfunctions (Hermite functions) of fixed energy level of the isotropic semi-classical Harmonic Oscillator on ${\bf R}^n$. We calculate the expected density of zeros of a random eigenfunction in the semi-classical limit $h \to 0.$ In the allowed region the density is of order $h^{-1},$ while in the forbidden region the density is of order $h^{-\frac{1}{2}}$. The computer graphics due to E.J. Heller illustrate this difference in "frequency" between the allowed and forbidden nodal sets.
We study the length of the nodal set of eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on the $\spheredim$-dimensional sphere. It is well known that the eigenspaces corresponding to $\eigval=n(n+\spheredim-1)$ are the spaces $\eigspc$ of spherical harmonics of degree $n$, of dimension $\eigspcdim$. We use the multiplicity of the eigenvalues to endow $\eigspc$ with the Gaussian probability measure and study the distribution of the $\spheredim$-dimensional volume of the nodal sets of a randomly chosen function. The expected volume is proportional to $\sqrt{\eigval}$. One of our main results is bounding the var…
We prove an analogue of the magnetic nodal theorem on quantum graphs: the number of zeros $ϕ$ of the $n$-th eigenfunction of the Schrödinger operator on a quantum graph is related to the stability of the $n$-th eigenvalue of the perturbation of the operator by magnetic potential. More precisely, we consider the $n$-th eigenvalue as a function of the magnetic perturbation and show that its Morse index at zero magnetic field is equal to $ϕ- (n-1)$.
It has been suggested that the distribution of the suitably normalized number of zeros of Laplacian eigenfunctions contains information about the geometry of the underlying domain. We study this distribution (more precisely, the distribution of the "nodal surplus") for Laplacian eigenfunctions of a metric graph. The existence of the distribution is established, along with its symmetry. One consequence of the symmetry is that the graph's first Betti number can be recovered as twice the average nodal surplus of its eigenfunctions. Furthermore, for graphs with disjoint cycles it is proven that th…
We are interested in the effect of Dirichlet boundary conditions on the nodal length of Laplace eigenfunctions. We study random Gaussian Laplace eigenfunctions on the two dimensional square and find a two terms asymptotic expansion for the expectation of the nodal length in any square of side larger than the Planck scale, along a denisty one sequence of energy levels. The proof relies on a new study of lattice points in small arcs, and shows that the said expectation is independent of the position of the square, giving the same asymptotic expansion both near and far from the boundaries.
Neumann domains of Laplacian eigenfunctions form a natural counterpart of nodal domains. The restriction of an eigenfunction to one of its nodal domains is the first Dirichlet eigenfunction of that domain. This simple observation is fundamental in many works on nodal domains. We consider a similar property for Neumann domains. Namely, given a Laplacian eigenfunction $f$ and its Neumann domain $Ω$, what is the position of $\ .f\ |_Ω$ in the Neumann spectrum of $Ω$? The current paper treats this spectral position problem on the two-dimensional torus. We fully solve it for separable eigenfunction…
We study the nodal set of eigenfunctions of the Laplace operator on the right angled isosceles triangle. A local analysis of the nodal pattern provides an algorithm for computing the number of nodal domains for any eigenfunction. In addition, an exact recursive formula for the number of nodal domains is found to reproduce all existing data. Eventually we use the recursion formula to analyse a large sequence of nodal counts statistically. Our analysis shows that the distribution of nodal counts for this triangular shape has a much richer structure than the known cases of regular separable shape…
The width of a convex curve in the plane is the minimal distance between a pair of parallel supporting lines of the curve. In this paper we study the width of nodal lines of eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on the standard flat torus. We prove a variety of results on the width, some having stronger versions assuming a conjecture of Cilleruelo and Granville asserting a uniform bound for the number of lattice points on the circle lying in short arcs.
We investigate the number of nodal intersections of random Gaussian Laplace eigenfunctions on the standard two-dimensional flat torus ("arithmetic random waves") with a fixed real-analytic reference curve with nonvanishing curvature. The expected intersection number is universally proportional to the length of the reference curve, times the wavenumber, independent of the geometry. Our main result prescribes the asymptotic behaviour of the nodal intersections variance for analytic curves in the high energy limit; remarkably, it is dependent on both the angular distribution of lattice points lyi…
We study the nodal sets of eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on the standard d-dimensional flat torus. The question we address is: Can a fixed hypersurface lie on the nodal sets of eigenfunctions with arbitrarily large eigenvalue? In dimension two, we show that this happens only for segments of closed geodesics. In higher dimensions, certain cylindrical sets do lie on nodal sets corresponding to arbitrarily large eigenvalues. Our main result is that this cannot happen for hypersurfaces with nonzero Gauss-Kronecker curvature. In dimension two, the result follows from a uniform lower bound for the…
We investigate the properties of the zeros of the eigenfunctions on quantum graphs (metric graphs with a Schrödinger-type differential operator). Using tools such as scattering approach and eigenvalue interlacing inequalities we derive several formulas relating the number of the zeros of the n-th eigenfunction to the spectrum of the graph and of some of its subgraphs. In a special case of the so-called dihedral graph we prove an explicit formula that only uses the lengths of the edges, entirely bypassing the information about the graph's eigenvalues. The results are explained from the point of…
An eigenfunction of the Laplacian on a metric (quantum) graph has an excess number of zeros due to the graph's non-trivial topology. This number, called the nodal surplus, is an integer between 0 and the graph's first Betti number $β$. We study the distribution of the nodal surplus values in the countably infinite set of the graph's eigenfunctions. We conjecture that this distribution converges to Gaussian for any sequence of graphs of growing $β$. We prove this conjecture for several special graph sequences and test it numerically for a variety of well-known graph families. Accurate computati…
We prove sharp $L^p$ estimates for the Steklov eigenfunctions on compact manifolds with boundary in terms of their $L^2$ norms on the boundary. We prove it by establishing $L^p$ bounds for the harmonic extension operators as well as the spectral projection operators on the boundary. Moreover, we derive lower bounds on the size of nodal sets for a variation of the Steklov spectral problem. We consider a generalized version of the Steklov problem by adding a non-smooth potential on the boundary but some of our results are new even without potential.
Courant theorem provides an upper bound for the number of nodal domains of eigenfunctions of a wide class of Laplacian-type operators. In particular, it holds for generic eigenfunctions of quantum graph. The theorem stipulates that, after ordering the eigenvalues as a non decreasing sequence, the number of nodal domains $ν_n$ of the $n$-th eigenfunction satisfies $n\ge ν_n$. Here, we provide a new interpretation for the Courant nodal deficiency $d_n = n-ν_n$ in the case of quantum graphs. It equals the Morse index --- at a critical point --- of an energy functional on a suitably defined space …
We consider the statistics of the number of nodal domains aka nodal counts for eigenfunctions of separable wave equations in arbitrary dimension. We give an explicit expression for the limiting distribution of normalised nodal counts and analyse some of its universal properties. Our results are illustrated by detailed discussion of simple examples and numerical nodal count distributions.
Let $ Ω\subset R^2$ be a bounded piecewise smooth domain and $ϕ_λ$ be a Neumann (or Dirichlet) eigenfunction with eigenvalue $λ^2$ and nodal set ${ N}_{ϕ_λ} = {x \in Ω; ϕ_λ(x) = 0}.$ Let $H \subset Ω$ be an interior $C^ω$ curve. Consider the intersection number $$ n(λ,H):= \# (H \cap N_{ϕ_λ} ).$$ We first prove that for general piecewise-analytic domains, and under an appropriate "goodness" condition on $H$, $$ n(λ,H) = {\mathcal O}_H(λ) (*)$$ as $λ\rightarrow \infty.$ We then prove that the bound in $(*)$ is satisfied in the case of quantum ergodic (QE) sequences of interior eigenfunctions, p…
In this survey we collect some of the recent results on the "nodal geometry" of random eigenfunctions on Riemannian surfaces. We focus on the asymptotic behavior, for high energy levels, of the nodal length of Gaussian Laplace eigenfunctions on the torus (arithmetic random waves) and on the sphere (random spherical harmonics). We give some insight on both Berry's cancellation phenomenon and the nature of nodal length second order fluctuations (non-Gaussian on the torus and Gaussian on the sphere) in terms of chaotic components. Finally we consider the general case of monochromatic random waves…
Sturm's oscillation theorem states that the n-th eigenfunction of a Sturm-Liouville operator on the interval has n-1 zeros (nodes). This result was generalized for all metric tree graphs and an analogous theorem was proven for discrete tree graphs. We prove the converse theorems for both discrete and metric graphs. Namely, if for all n, the n-th eigenfunction of the graph has n-1 zeros then the graph is a tree. Our proofs use a recently obtained connection between the graph's nodal count and the magnetic stability of its eigenvalues. In the course of the proof we show that it is not possible f…
According to Courant's theorem, an eigenfunction as\-sociated with the $n$-th eigenvalue $λ\_n$ has at most $n$ nodal domains. A footnote in the book of Courant and Hilbert, states that the same assertion is true for any linear combination of eigenfunctions associated with eigenvalues less than or equal to $λ\_n$. We call this assertion the \emph{Extended Courant Property}.\smallskipIn this paper, we propose simple and explicit examples for which the extended Courant property is false: convex domains in $\R^n$ (hypercube and equilateral triangle), domains with cracks in $\mathbb{R}^2$, on the …
According to a well-know theorem by Sturm, a vibrating string is divided into exactly N nodal intervals by zeros of its N-th eigenfunction. Courant showed that one half of Sturm's theorem for the strings applies to the theory of membranes: N-th eigenfunction cannot have more than N domains. He also gave an example of a eigenfunction high in the spectrum with a minimal number of nodal domains, thus excluding the existence of a non-trivial lower bound. An analogue of Sturm's result for discretizations of the interval was discussed by Gantmacher and Krein. The discretization of an interval is a g…
We study the scaling asymptotics of the eigenspace projection kernels $Π_{\hbar, E}(x,y)$ of the isotropic Harmonic Oscillator $- \hbar ^2 Δ+ |x|^2$ of eigenvalue $E = \hbar(N + \frac{d}{2})$ in the semi-classical limit $\hbar \to 0$. The principal result is an explicit formula for the scaling asymptotics of $Π_{\hbar, E}(x,y)$ for $x,y$ in a $\hbar^{2/3}$ neighborhood of the caustic $\mathcal C_E$ as $\hbar \to 0.$ The scaling asymptotics are applied to the distribution of nodal sets of Gaussian random eigenfunctions around the caustic as $\hbar \to 0$. In previous work we proved that the den…
We consider a random Gaussian model of Laplace eigenfunctions on the hemisphere satisfying the Dirichlet boundary conditions along the equator. For this model we find a precise asymptotic law for the corresponding zero density functions, in both short range (around the boundary) and long range (far away from the boundary) regimes. As a corollary, we were able to find a logarithmic negative bias for the total nodal length of this ensemble relatively to the rotation invariant model of random spherical harmonics. Jean Bourgain's research, and his enthusiastic approach to the nodal geometry of Lap…
We consider mass concentration properties of Laplace eigenfunctions $φ_λ$, that is, smooth functions satisfying the equation $-Δφ_λ= λφ_λ$, on a smooth closed Riemannian manifold. Using a heat diffusion technique, we first discuss mass concentration/localization properties of eigenfunctions around their nodal sets. Second, we discuss the problem of avoided crossings and (non)existence of nodal domains which continue to be thin over relatively long distances. Further, using the above techniques, we discuss the decay of Laplace eigenfunctions on Euclidean domains which have a central "thick" par…
Using the spectral multiplicities of the standard torus, we endow the Laplace eigenspaces with Gaussian probability measures. This induces a notion of random Gaussian Laplace eigenfunctions on the torus ("arithmetic random waves"). We study the distribution of the nodal length of random eigenfunctions for large eigenvalues, and our primary result is that the asymptotics for the variance is non-universal, and is intimately related to the arithmetic of lattice points lying on a circle with radius corresponding to the energy.
In this paper, we will consider generalised eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on some surfaces of infinite area. We will be interested in lower bounds on the number of nodal domains of such eigenfunctions which are included in a given bounded set. We will first of all consider finite sums of plane waves, and give a criterion on the amplitudes and directions of propagation of these plane waves which guarantees an optimal lower bound, of the same order as Courant's upper bound. As an application, we will obtain optimal lower bounds for the number of nodal domains of distorted plane waves on some f…
We find new polynomial upper bounds for the size of nodal sets of eigenfunctions when the Riemannian manifold has a Gevrey or quasianalytic regularity.
We establish metric graph counterparts of Pleijel's theorem on the asymptotics of the number of nodal domains $ν_n$ of the $n$-th eigenfunction(s) of a broad class of operators on compact metric graphs, including Schrödinger operators with $L^1$-potentials and a variety of vertex conditions as well as the $p$-Laplacian with natural vertex conditions, and without any assumptions on the lengths of the edges, the topology of the graph, or the behaviour of the eigenfunctions at the vertices. {Among other things, these results characterise the accumulation points of the sequence $(\frac{ν_n}{n})_{n…
We study the correlation between the nodal length of random spherical harmonics and the measure of the boundary for excursion sets at any non-zero level. We show that the correlation is asymptotically zero, while the partial correlation after controlling for the random $L^2$-norm on the sphere of the eigenfunctions is asymptotically one.
Given a Dirichlet eigenfunction of a 2D quantum billiard, the boundary domain count is the number of intersections of the nodal lines with the boundary. We study the integer sequence defined by these numbers, sorted according to the energies of the eigenfunctions. Based on a variant of Berry's random wave model, we derive a semi-classical trace formula for the sequence of boundary domain counts. The formula consists of a Weyl-like smooth part, and an oscillating part which depends on classical periodic orbits and their geometry. The predictions of this trace formula are supported by numerical …
For small range of $p>2$, we improve the $L^p$ bounds of eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on negatively curved manifolds. Our improvement is by a power of logarithm for a full density sequence of eigenfunctions. We also derive improvements on the size of the nodal sets. Our proof is based on a quantum ergodicity property of independent interest, which holds for families of symbols supported in balls whose radius shrinks at a logarithmic rate.
For the spherical Laplacian on the sphere and for the Dirichlet Laplacian in the square}, Antonie Stern claimed in her PhD thesis (1924) the existence of an infinite sequence of eigenvalues whose corresponding eigenspaces contain an eigenfunction with exactly two nodal domains. These results were given complete proofs respectively by Hans Lewy in 1977, and the authors in 2014 (see also Gauthier-Shalom--Przybytkowski, 2006). In this paper, we obtain similar results for the two dimensional isotropic quantum harmonic oscillator. In the opposite direction, we construct an infinite sequence of regu…
We study the number of intersections of the nodal lines of an eigenfunction of the Laplacian on the standard torus with a fixed reference curve, that is, the number of zeros of the eigenfunction restricted to the curve. An upper bound is the wave number k. When the curve has nowhere zero curvature, we conjecture that, up to a constant multiple, this should also be the correct a lower bound. We give a lower bound which differs from this by an arithmetic quantity, given in terms of the maximal number of lattice points in arcs of size square root of the wave number k on a circle of radius k. Acco…
This paper is concerned with the location of nodal sets of eigenfunctions of the Dirichlet Laplacian in thin tubular neighbourhoods of hypersurfaces of the Euclidean space of arbitrary dimension. In the limit when the radius of the neighbourhood tends to zero, it is known that spectral properties of the Laplacian are approximated well by an effective Schrödinger operator on the hypersurface with a potential expressed solely in terms of principal curvatures. By applying techniques of elliptic partial differential equations, we strengthen the known perturbation results to get a convergence of ei…
The question of determining for which eigenvalues there exists an eigenfunction which has the same number of nodal domains as the label of the associated eigenvalue (Courant-sharp property) was motivated by the analysis of minimal spectral partitions. In previous works, many examples have been analyzed corresponding to squares, rectangles, disks, triangles, tori, \ldots . A natural toy model for further investigations is the Möbius strip, a non-orientable surface with Euler characteristic $0$, and particularly the "square" Möbius strip whose eigenvalues have higher multiplicities. In this case…
Generalizing Courant's nodal domain theorem, the "Extended Courant property" is the statement that a linear combination of the first $n$ eigenfunctions has at most $n$ nodal domains. A related question is to estimate the number of connected components of the (super) level sets of a Neumann eigenfunction $u$. Indeed, in this case, the first eigenfunction is constant, and looking at the level sets of $u$ amounts to looking at the nodal sets $\{u-a=0\}$, where $a$ is a real constant. In the first part of the paper, we prove that the Extended Courant property is false for the subequilateral triang…
