ASYMPTOTICS OF THE SPECTRUM OF THE MIXED BOUNDARY VALUE PROBLEM FOR THE LAPLACE OPERATOR IN A THIN SPINDLE-SHAPED DOMAIN

The asymptotics is examined for solutions to the spectral problem for the Laplace operator in a d-dimensional thin, of diameter O(h), spindle-shaped domain Omega(h) with the Dirichlet condition on small, of size h << 1, terminal zones Gamma(h)(+/-) and the Neumann condition on the remaining part of the boundary partial derivative Omega(h) . In the limit as h -> +0, an ordinary differential equation on the axis (-1, 1) (sic) z of the spindle arises with a coefficient degenerating at the points z = +/- 1 and moreover, without any boundary condition because the requirement on the boundedness of eigenfunctions makes the limit spectral problem well-posed. Error estimates are derived for the one-dimensional model but in the case of d = 3 it is necessary to construct boundary layers near the sets Gamma(h)(+/-) and in the case of d = 2 it is necessary to deal with selfadjoint extensions of the differential operator. The extension parameters depend linearly on In h so that its eigenvalues are analytic functions in the variable 1/vertical bar ln h vertical bar As a result, in all dimensions the one-dimensional model gets the power-law accuracy O(h(delta)d ) with an exponent delta(d) > 0. First (the smallest) eigenvalues, positive in Omega(h) and null in (-1, 1), require individual treatment. Also, infinite asymptotic series are discussed, as well as the static problem (without the spectral parameter) and related shapes of thin domains.