Optimal Lieb-Thirring type inequalities for Schrödinger and Jacobi operators with complex potentials

Abstract: We prove optimal Lieb-Thirring type inequalities for Schr\"odinger and Jacobi operators with complex potentials. Our results bound eigenvalue power sums (Riesz means) by the $L^p$ norm of the potential, where in contrast to the self-adjoint case, each term needs to be weighted by a function of the ratio of the distance of the eigenvalue to the essential spectrum and the distance to the endpoint(s) thereof. Our Lieb-Thirring type bounds only hold for integrable weight functions. To prove optimality, we establish divergence estimates for non-integrable weight functions. The divergence rates exhibit a logarithmic or even polynomial gain compared to semiclassical methods (Weyl asymptotics) for real potentials.