Lowest eigenvalues and higher order elliptic differential operators

Abstract: Let $(M,g)$ be a closed, smooth Riemannian manifold of dimension $m \geq 1$. It is not difficult to produce an example of an elliptic differential operator on $(M,g)$ that has the property that there exists a sign-changing eigenfunction that is associated with the lowest eigenvalue. Indeed, $Δ_g^2 + λ_2 Δ_g$ does the job, where $Δ_g:=div_g \nabla_g$. and where $λ_2$ is the second lowest eigenvalue of the operator $-Δ_g$. The question that remains is how rare are elliptic differential operators whose lowest eigenvalue has this property. In this paper, the author proves that elliptic operators of the form $Δ_g^2 - div_g(T-λ_2 g^{-1}) d$, where $T$ is a negative semi-definite $(2,0)$-tensor field on $M$, and where $g^{-1}$ is the inverse metric tensor, have the property that there exists a sign-changing eigenfunction that is associated with the lowest eigenvalue of the operator. This suggests that there are a lot of fourth-order elliptic operators with the property that there exists a sign-changing eigenfunction that is associated with the lowest eigenvalue of the operator.