数理解析研究所講究録
第 1838 巻 2013 年 149-160

149

PRUFER’S TRANSFORMATIONPAUL BINDING

ABSTRACT.
review is given of recent work on reducing periodic/antiperiodic Sturm-Liouville problems to analysis of the Pr\"uferangle. This provides an altemative to the more usual approaches
via operator theory or the Hill discriminant in the definite case,and leads to new results in cases with semidefinite weight andmore general coupling boundary conditions.
$A$

1. INTRODUCTION.
The Sturm-Liouville equation(1.1)$-(p(x)y’)’+q(x)y=\lambda r(x)y, x\in[a, b]$

has received widespread attention. From about 100 years before thetime of Sturm and Liouville, until the present day, such equations havebeen studied (and applied) in a variety of contexts subject to separating(also called Sturmian) boundary conditions of the form$y(a)\cos\alpha=(py)’(a)\sin\alpha$ , and $y(b)\cos\beta=(py)’(b)\sin\beta.$(1.2)
For a long time, the basic eigenvalue existence and eigenfunction oscillation theory proceeded via analysis of the zeros of real solutions of(1.1) as functions of . Much of the relevant material up to the $1920s$
is covered in, e.g., [13, Ch. 10], first published in 1926. In the same
year, Pr\"ufer [17] (in what seems to be his only paper on differential
equations) gave a new transformation of the problem leading to an
analysis simpler in various ways than in previous works. Assumingthat $r>0$ , which we shall call the “definite case”, he rewrote (1.1)
as an equivalent system$\lambda$

$p,$

(1.3)

$y’=z/p, z’=(q-\lambda r)y$2000 Mathematics Subject Classification. $34B24,34D20.$

Key words and phrases. Pr\"ufer transformation, Hill’s equation, semidefinite
Sturm-Liouville problem, coupled boundary conditions.
Research supported by NSERC of Canada. This paper is based on joint workwith Hans Volkmer.

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PAUL BINDING

and then used polar coordinates in the corresponding phase plane toderive the basic eigenvalue existence and eigenfunction oscillation theory.
Since then, Pr\"ufer’s transformation has been the method of choice
in most texts discussing the above basic theory. Many follow Pr\"ufer’sand (cf. [9, Ch. 8]),lead and consider continuous coefficients
conditions, which are treated in [1] and [21], forbut we shall allow
$p,$

$q$

$r$

$L_{1}$

example.
Following Hill’s studies of planetary motion in the latter part of the
19th century, Sturm-Liouville equations with periodic (or antiperiodic)
conditions$y(a)=\pm y(b)$ ,(1.4)

became of interest, and we remark that suchboundary conditions also appear in the study of wave motion, separation of variables in classical boundary value problems, etc. Two basic
methods have been established for the existence of eigenvalues of (1.1)
and (1.4). One proceeds via Floquet theory and Hill’s discriminant. It requires little background, but is somewhat involved, particu. The other is variational in nature, andlarly in the analysis ofrequires a significant amount of background in operator (or equivalent)
theory. Here we shall outline another method, via Pr\"ufer’s transformation.
Indeed there seem to be various reasons to give a Pr\"ufer treatmentof (1.1) and (1.4). It depends on elementary analysis of initial value
problems, builds on standard ideas from the separated case, and isless intricate (and shorter) than the Floquet/Hill theory (as in, say,
[9, Ch. 8] . It requires much less background than the treatments of,say, Eastham [10] or Weidmann [21], who use signfficant amounts ofoperator theory. Also, it is versatile enough to allow a unified treatment
not only of eigenvalue existence but also of further topics like oscillationand comparison principles, asymptotics and interlacing.
Our plan is as follows. In Section 2 we recall some basic propertiesof the Pr\"ufer transformation, showing how both the (standard) caseof (1.2), and also the case of (1.4), can be reduced in different ways
at $x=b$ . As a function of
to analysis of the Pr\"ufer angle, this increases continuously from to infinity. Thus, values ofthe form
for integers $n\geq 0$ are attained and generate eigenvaluesfor (1.1) and (1.2). It turns out that the boundary conditions (1.4)
can be treated via two such functions $m$ and $M$ , thereby generating
pairs (with the same oscillation count) of periodic and antiperiodic
eigenvalues. These functions still depend on the Pr\"ufer angle, but via(where$=[yy’]^{T}$ )$y$$d(\lambda)$$d”(\lambda)$$)$$\theta(\lambda, \alpha, x)$$0$$\lambda\in \mathbb{R}$$n\pi+\beta$

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PR\"UFER’S TRANSFORMATION

more involved constructions, and the corresponding theory is developedin Section 3. For proofs, and further topics like comparison principles,interlacing of eigenvalues and eigenfunction zeros and the relationshipwith Floquet theory and Hill’s discriminant, we refer to [6].
In Section 4 we extend (1.4) to boundary conditions of the form

(1.5)

$y(b)=Ky(a)$ ,where $K=(k_{ij})$ is a realmatrix with determinant 1. These are
the most general (real) self-adjoint boundary conditions for (1.1). The
best known examples of coupling boundary conditions are the periodic
and antiperiodic cases, where $K=I$ and $K=-I$ , respectively. For
the definite case, see, e.g., [9, 10, 21] for various conditions on the coefficients, via a combination of Hill discriminant and operator theoretic
methods. Results include existence of eigenvalues and their interlacingwith those for corresponding Dirichlet and Neumann problems. Moregeneral cases of $K$ have been treated for over a century, again for thedefinite case, in, e.g., [8] (which was later corrected in some respects).
Most of the work in this area (which is reviewed in [5]) involves generalised versions of the Hill discriminant and the Dirichlet and Neumann
problems noted above. Proofs for the Pr\"ufer method used here can befound in [7].
In Section 5 we relax definiteness to allow $r\geq 0$ a.e. This topic,
often studied under the title of “semidefinite weight”, has again been
investigated for over a century–see, e.g., [12]. Later results on moregeneral cases, e.g. [4, 11], examine a “loss of eigenvalues” if vanishes
on a “large enough” set. This case is also referred to as “right semidefinite”, but recently “singular indefinite” has been used by some authors,e.g. in [15]. Here we shall extend the Pr\"ufer transformation analysisof the definite case from the previous sections to the right semidefinite
problem. Superficially, little changes except for the “loss” of a certain
number (which we make precise, at least in the periodic/antiperiodic
cases) of eigenvalues. On the other hand, several aspects of the analysis
become more involved, and for details, and various related results, werefer to [7].
The methods here can in fact be extended to a more general situationin which (1.3) is replaced by$2\cross 2$

$r$

(1.6)

$y’=sz, z’=(q-\lambda r)y.$This problem, under additional conditions, was considered by Atkinson[1, Chapter 8]. For the definite case, and more generally when $p>0,$
this simply involves a change of notation in (1.3) to $s=1/p$ with
$z=py’$ . (Despite some advantages, this has not been widely used).

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PAUL BINDING

Atkinson, however, also took the further step of relaxing definitenessto the “semi-definiteness” conditions$r\geq 0$ and $s\geq 0$(1.7)
a.e. on $[a, b]$ . The second inequality in (1.7) extends the meaning of(1.3) to (1.6), and is a proper extension when vanishes nontrivially.
Indeed, Atkinson used this idea to incorporate certain difference equartions into a generalised Sturm-Liouville framework. For further workon such problems we cite [4] for separating boundary conditions, andspecial cases of Atkinson’s problem (equivalent to equations with piecewise constant coefficients) with finitely many eigenvalues have beenstudied by various authors, cf. [14] and its references. The setting has
been shown in [19] to be powerful enough to include work of Krein on
strings, Feller on certain diffusion processes, and certain equations involving measures. It is shown in [7] that the Pr\"ufer method used here
can be extended to Atkinson’s problem, although certain concepts likeoscillation count have to be redefined since eigenfunctions can haveintervals of zeros.
Moreover, related methods have been used to derive existence of
periodic eigenvalues for various (definite) equations generalising (1.1),
for example for Fu\v{c}\’ik spectra, the half-eigenvalue problem and the pLaplacian. The results are then not as sharp, however, and arbitrarily
many eigenvalues can have the same oscillation count; see, e.g., [2].
$s$

2. THE BASIC$p_{R}\"{U} FER$

TRANSFORMATION.

$r\in L_{1}(a, b)$ . We
In this section we assume that $r>0$ andrecall that Pr\"ufer’s transformation for a nonzero solution of (1.1)
takes the form
$y=\rho\sin\theta$ , and $py’=\rho\cos\theta.$
(2.1)
$p,$

$\frac{1}{p},$

$q,$

$y$

Given the initial conditions(2.2)$y(a)=\sin\alpha, (py’)(a)=\cos\alpha,$for (1.1), standard manipulations (e.g., [9, Ch. 8]) give
(2.3)$\theta’=\frac{\cos^{2}\theta}{p}+(\lambda r-q)\sin^{2}\theta$

and $\rho’=\rho(\frac{1}{p}+q-\lambda r)\sin\theta\cos\theta$with initial conditions
and
(2.4)
Conversely, (2.3) and (2.4) imply (1.1) and (2.2).
. We
We use (2.3), (2.4) to define and as functions ofremark that the above differential equations are all to be understood in$\theta(\lambda, \alpha, 0)=\alpha\in \mathbb{R}$$\rho(\lambda, \alpha, 0)=1.$$\theta$$\rho$$(\lambda, \alpha, x)$153

PR\"UFER’S TRANSFORMATION

the sense of Carath\’eodory and are Lipschitz in the dependent variables.
Basic theory for such equations can be found in various books, e.g.,[9, 18, 20].
For separating conditions (1.2), is given, and the eigenvalue condition can be written in the form$\alpha$(2.5)$\theta(\lambda, \alpha, b)=\beta+k\pi$, for$\alpha,$$\beta\in[0, \pi)$,where is the “oscillation count” of . We define this as the numberof zeros in $(a, b]$ of any eigenfunction corresponding to . It suffices,then, to study alone and we now list some of the standard properties
that we need (see, e.g., [9, 21]. First,$k$$\lambda$$\lambda$$\theta$(2.6)$\theta(\lambda, \alpha, x)$increases with$x$

through multiples of$\pi.$

Next,
(2.7)

$\theta(\lambda, \alpha, b)$

increases strictly and continuously with$\lambda,$

and finally(2.8)$\theta(\lambda, \alpha, b)arrow 0$(resp.

$+\infty$) as$\lambdaarrow$-00 (resp.

$+\infty$).

Via well known arguments, e.g., in [9, 21] these suffice to give existenceof a uniquewith oscillation count for each $k\geq 0$ except,
because of (2.5), that $k\geq 1$ when $\beta=0$ , e.g., for Dirichlet conditions$y(O)=y(\pi)=0)$ . In this case the above oscillation result differs fromthe usual one, whereand eigenfunction zeros are counted in$(a, b)$ , but our convention will allow amore unified treatment of theresults below.
We now lay the groundwork for the periodic/antiperiodic conditions
where $K=\pm I$ in (1.5). First we note thatisin , and(the subscript denoting partial differentiation by ) satisfies
indeedthe variational initial value problem$\lambda=\lambda_{k}(\alpha, \beta)$$k$$\beta\in(0, \pi]$$\theta(\lambda, \alpha, x)$$C^{1}$$\alpha$$\theta_{\alpha}$$\alpha$$\theta_{\alpha}’=-2\theta_{\alpha}(\frac{1}{p}+q-\lambda r)\sin\theta\cos\theta$, where$\theta_{\alpha}(\lambda, \alpha, 0)=1,$

obtained from the equations in (2.3) and (2.4) (see, e.g., [9], [18]).
Using the equation in (2.3) we see that, and from (2.4)
we derive$\theta$$(\rho^{2}\theta_{\alpha})’=0$$\rho$(2.9)

We now use (2.4) (where
the form$\rho^{2}\theta_{\alpha}=1.$$\alpha$is as yet undetermined) to rewrite (1.4) in$\theta(\lambda, \alpha, \pi)=\alpha+k\pi,$154
PAUL BINDING

where is even (resp. odd) for a periodic (resp. antiperiodic) condition,. This last equation and (2.9) yield
together with$k$$\rho(\lambda, \alpha, \pi)=1$$\theta_{\alpha}(\lambda, \alpha, \pi)=1$

without . Actually, it will be moreconvenient to work with the differenceso again it is enough to study(2.10)$\theta$$\rho$$\delta(\lambda, \alpha)=\theta(\lambda, \alpha, \pi)-\alpha$between final and initial values, and then the eigenvalue conditions takethe form, and(2.11)$\delta_{\alpha}(\lambda, \alpha)=0.$$\delta(\lambda, \alpha)=k\pi$

3. PERIODIC AND ANTIPERIODIC EIGENVALUES.
In this section we assume that $p,r>0$ and $q,r\in L_{1}(a, b)$ . Rom, and one key(2.11),
is a critical value (with respect to ) of
for us will be to replace “critical” by “extreme” We start by extending$\frac{1}{p},$$k\pi$

fromthe definition of-periodic in , by virtue of$\delta(\lambda, \alpha)$$\pi$$\delta(\lambda, \alpha)$$\alpha$$\alpha\in[0, \pi)$to$\alpha\in \mathbb{R}$, noting that$\delta$

is then$\alpha$(3.1)$\theta(\lambda, \alpha+\pi, x)=\theta(\lambda, \alpha, x)+\pi.$overofand maximum
In particular, the minimum
following
resultand are attained. The
equal those overdescribes some basic properties of $m$ and $M.$
$M(\lambda)$$m(\lambda)$$\delta(\lambda, \alpha)$$\alpha\in[0, \pi]$$\alpha\in \mathbb{R}$

Lemma 3.1.
(a) The functions $m$ and $M$ are continuous and strictly increasing.
(b) For each , we have the inequalities $m(\lambda)\leq M(\lambda)<m(\lambda)+\pi.$, then $m(\lambda)arrow-\pi$ and(c) If. The proof can be found in [6].
, then(d) IfNow we are ready for our central construction. From Lemma 3.1,
$m$ (resp. $M$ ) attains each value
for $k\geq 0$ (resp. $k\geq 1$ ) so we can$\lambda$$M(\lambda)arrow 0.$$\lambdaarrow-\infty$$m(\lambda)arrow+\infty$$\lambdaarrow+\infty$$k\pi$

define intervals(3.2) $I_{k}=\{\lambda : m(\lambda)\leq k\pi\leq M(\lambda)\}=\{\lambda$ :$\delta(\lambda, \alpha)=k\pi$, for each $k\geq 0$ . Apart fromwith end points
is finite, andfor all, and(3.3)
We are now ready for the main result of this section.

for some, each$\alpha\}$$\lambda_{0}^{-}=-\infty$$\lambda_{k}^{-}\leq\lambda_{k}^{+}$$\lambda_{k}^{\pm}$$m(\lambda_{0}^{+})=0$$m(\lambda_{k}^{+})=k\pi=M(\lambda_{k}^{-})$$k\geq 1.$

is an eigenvalue of the(a) Except for , each
Theorem 3.2.
periodic eigenvalue problem when is even and of the antiperiiodic eigenvalue problem when is odd.
$\lambda_{k}^{\pm}$$\lambda_{0}^{-}$

$k$

$k$

155
PR\"UFER’S TRANSFORMATION(b) There are no other eigenvalues.
(c) Theare disjoint, so
for each $k\geq 0.$(d) An eigenfunction belonging to the eigenvaluein $(a, b].$$I_{k}$$\lambda_{k}^{+}<\lambda_{k+1}^{-}$$y$$\lambda_{k}^{\pm}$

has

$k$

zeros

The proof can be found in [6], along with various additional results concerning comparison principles, interlacing of eigenvalues andeigenfunction zeros and the relationship with Floquet theory and Hill’sdiscriminant.

4. COUPLING BOUNDARY CONDITIONSIn this section we assume that $r>0$ and$r\in L_{1}(a, b)$ . We consider the system (1.6) subject to the boundary conditions (1.5) where$K=(k_{ij})$ is a realmatrix with determinant 1.
It will be convenient to treat the boundary conditions$p,$$\frac{1}{p},$$q,$$2\cross 2$(4.1)$(_{(py)(b)}y(b))=-K(_{(py)(a)}y(a))$

as well as (1.5). Since we may replace $K$ by $-K$ we will assume,

without loss of generality, that
(4.2)

For

$k_{12}<0$$\alpha\in \mathbb{R},$or$k_{12}=0<k_{11}.$$i=1,2$ , we set$k_{i}(\alpha):=k_{i1}\sin\alpha+k_{i2}\cos\alpha.$

The curve
does not pass through $(0,0)$ , and we denoteits continuously chosen polar angle by. By virtue of (4.2), we may
determine the function uniquely by the condition$(k_{2}(\alpha), k_{1}(\alpha))$$\beta(\alpha)$$\beta$(4.3)$\beta(0)\in(-\pi, 0].$If $k_{1}(\alpha)=0$ thenis an integer multiple ofis equivalent to $\beta(0)=0)$ ; otherwise we have$\beta(\alpha)$

(4.4)

$\pi$

(for example, $k_{12}=0$$\cot\beta(\alpha)=\frac{k_{2}(\alpha)}{k_{1}(\alpha)}.$In the special case of periodic/antiperiodic boundary conditions, $K$ is
the identity matrix and
The function :is continuously differentiable with derivative(4.5)$\beta(\alpha)=\alpha.$$\beta$$\mathbb{R}arrow \mathbb{R}$$\beta’(\alpha)=[k_{1}(\alpha)^{2}+k_{2}(\alpha)^{2}]^{-1}>0.$

Therefore,(4.6)$\beta$is an increasing function and$\beta(\alpha+\pi)=\beta(\alpha)+\pi.$156
PAUL BINDING

We can now extend the definition of from Section 2 to$\delta$(4.7)$\delta(\alpha, \lambda):=\theta(b, \alpha, \lambda)-\beta(\alpha)$.

As a function ofis continuously differentiable and has period. The proof of the following lemma can be found in [7].
$\delta(\alpha, \lambda)$$\alpha,$$\pi$

Lemma 4.1.
real number is an eigenvalue of (1.6) subject toboundaw conditions (1.5) (resp. (4.1)) if and only if there is an even(resp. odd) integer such thatis a critical value of the function$A$$\lambda$$k\pi$$k$$\lambda):\alpha\mapsto\delta(\alpha, \lambda)$$\delta($.

Following the procedure from Section 3 we define$m( \lambda):=\min_{\alpha\in \mathbb{R}}\delta(\alpha, \lambda)$,$M( \lambda):=\max_{\alpha\in \mathbb{R}}\delta(\alpha, \lambda)$

and we extend the reasoning of Section 3 to give the following result.
Lemma 4.2.
(a) The functions $m,$ $M$ :creasing.
(b) For every$\mathbb{R}arrow \mathbb{R}$are continuous and strictly in-$\lambda\in \mathbb{R},$(4.8)$-\pi<m(\lambda)\leq M(\lambda)<m(\lambda)+\pi.$(c) For every$\lambda\in \mathbb{R},$the function$m(\lambda)$$\delta(, \lambda)$.

and$M(\lambda)$

are the only critical values of.

The proof can be found in [7]. The following theorem now follows
from Lemmas 4.1 and 4.2(c).
Theorem 4.3.
real number is an eigenvalue of (1.6) subject toboundary conditions (1.5) (resp. (4.1)) if and only if there is an even(resp. odd) integer such that either $m(\lambda)=k\pi$ or $M(\lambda)=k\pi.$$A$$\lambda$$k$

In order to obtain analogues of Lemma 3.1(c) and (d), we note thatattains its minimum and maximum for $0\leq\alpha\leq\pi$ at
and$\beta(\pi)=\beta(0)+\pi$ respectively. Thus if, then $m(\lambda)arrow-\beta(O)-\pi$
and $M(\lambda)arrow-\beta(0)$ , while if, then $m(\lambda)arrow+\infty$ . Since$-\beta(0)\in[0, \pi)$ by (4.3), we may argue as in [7] to obtain$\beta(\alpha)$$\beta(0)$$\lambdaarrow-\infty$$\lambdaarrow+\infty$(a) Except for , each
Theorem 4.4.
is an eigenvalue corresponding to (1.5) when is even and to (4.1) when is odd.
(b) There are no other eigenvalues.
(c) Theare $disjoint_{f}$ sofor each $k\geq 0.$$\lambda_{0}^{-}$$k$$I_{k}$$\lambda_{k}^{+}<\lambda_{k+1}^{-}$$\lambda_{k}^{\pm}$

$k$

157

PR\"UFER’S TRANSFORMATIONThis corresonds to Theorem $3.2(a)-(c)$ , but statement (d) of Theorem 3.2 regarding oscillation counts now becomes more complicated.

Eigenfunctions corresponding to the eigenvalue
in the form (2.1), (2.4) with. Then$y$$\lambda=\lambda_{k}^{\pm}$may be taken$\alpha\in[0, \pi)$$\theta(b, \alpha, \lambda)-\beta(\alpha)=k\pi.$Note that. If
then has $k-1$ zeros in $(a, b]$, and ifthen there are zeros. For further analysis of this
topic in the definite case, via different methods, we refer to [5] and its
references.
$\beta(\alpha)\in(-\pi, \pi)$$\beta(\alpha)<0$$\beta(\alpha)\geq 0$

$y$

$k$

5. SEMIDEFINITE WEIGHT FUNCTION
In this section we assume the previous integrability conditions on$1/p,$
and with $p>0$ but additionally we allow $r\geq 0$ a.e. In thiscase (2.7) (and (2.8), as we shall see) may fail. For example, if $r=0$ a.e.
then the eigenvalue problem is independent of and in what follows
we shall assume the nondegeneracy condition
$r$

$q$

$\lambda$(5.1)$\int_{a}^{b}r>0.$

Initially we shall assume periodic/antiperiodic boundary conditions,
i.e., $K=\pm I$ in (1.5), and we extend the coefficients
periodically over . Assumption (5.1) allows us to translate the independent
variable if necessary so that$p,$ $q,$ $r$$\mathbb{R}$(5.2)$\int_{a}^{c}r>0,$$l^{b}r>0$

Accordingly we shall assume that$\theta,$for every $c\in(a, b)$ .
$m,$ $M$$\delta,$are defined using such an$a.$

Arguing as in [7], we see that enough properties of $m$ and $M$ extend to the case of semidefinite weight to allow us to deduce Theorem
4.3 verbatim. Since $m$ and $M$ are easily seen to be nondecreasing,it remains to consider their limits at
and whether they increase$\pm\infty$

strictly.

We start by noting that, for eachassee, e.g., [3]. Alsois nondecreasing and analytic in for each
. Arguing as in [7], one can use the analogue of Lemma 3.1(b) todeduce$\alpha,$$\theta(b, \alpha, \lambda)arrow+\infty$$\theta(b, \alpha, \lambda)$$\lambdaarrow+\infty,$$\lambda$$\alpha$Lemma 5.1.

(a) The functions $m,$strictly increasing.
(b)andtend $to+\infty$ as$m(\lambda)$$M(\lambda)$$M:\mathbb{R}arrow \mathbb{R}$$\lambdaarrow+\infty.$

are continuous and158
PAUL BINDING

asand
It remains to consider the limits ofbe the collection of maximal closed intervals
To this end we letwith $c<d$ for which$x\in J$ , be the solution of the firstlet
For $J=[c,$equation in (2.3), that is,$\lambdaarrow-\infty.$$M(\lambda)$$m(\lambda)$$\mathcal{J}$$\int_{c}^{d}r=0.$$[c,$ $d\rfloor\subset[a, b]$$\theta_{J}(x),$$d\rfloor\in \mathcal{J}$(5.3)$\theta_{J}’=\frac{1}{p}\cos^{2}\theta_{J}-q\sin^{2}\theta_{J}$with initial value$\theta_{J}(c)=0.$

We define$\ell_{J}^{-}:=\max\{k\pi:k\in \mathbb{Z}, k\pi\leq\theta_{J}(d)\}$Then as in [4, Theorem 3.2] we see that if
(5.4)

a

$s$

$\theta(b, \alpha, \lambda)arrow\ell_{-:=\sum_{J\in \mathcal{J}}\ell_{J}^{-}}$$\alpha\in[0, \pi)$then$\lambdaarrow-\infty,$

where the empty sum is understood as . Note that the above sum isand are integrable.
always finite since
Reasoning as in [7], we then reach$0$$\frac{1}{p},$Lemma 5.2.

$r$

$q$

$m(\lambda)arrow\ell_{-}-\pi$and$M(\lambda)arrow\ell_{-}$

as$\lambdaarrow-\infty.$

Combining Lemmas 5.1 and 5.2 with the reasoning used in [7], we
obtain the following result, where$\kappa:=\ell_{-}/\pi.$is an eigenwith(a) Except for , each
Theorem 5.3.
value of the periodic eigenvalue problem when is even and of
the antiperiodic eigenvalue problem when is odd.
(b) There are no other eigenvalues.
(c) Theare disjoint, so
for each $k\geq 0.$
has zeros(d) An eigenfunction belonging to the eigenvaluein $(a, b].$$k\geq\kappa$$\lambda_{k}^{\pm}$$\lambda_{\overline{\kappa}}$

$k$

$k$

$\lambda_{k}^{+}<\lambda_{k+1}^{-}$$I_{k}$$k$$\lambda_{k}^{\pm}$$y$Finally, we discuss the changes needed when the coupling boundary
conditions involve general $K$ in (1.5). Then (5.1) no longer allows us toassume (5.2), but it is still possible to adopt the same general strategy.
This involves the analysis of several cases, which we omit, but we shallindicate an analogue of Theorem 5.3.
to allowThis requires modffications to the definition of via
with either $a=c$ or $b=d$ (but not both,for intervals
because of (5.1) . If there is an interval $T=[c, b]\in \mathcal{J}$ , then weobeys the differential equation (5.3) for, wherewrite
obey the same differential
then we let. If there is $I=[a,$equation (5.3) as , but with terminal condition $\theta_{R}(d)=0.$$\kappa$$[c, d]\in \mathcal{J}$$)$$\ell_{T}^{-}$$:=\theta_{T}(b)$$\theta_{T}$$d\rfloor\in \mathcal{J}$$\theta_{J}$$\theta_{J}$$\theta_{R}$$\ell_{-}$

159
PR\"UFER’S TRANSFORMATIONThenin Lemma 5.2 must be modified to account forandthe function of Section 4. See [7] for details of this and the final
result, which we can express loosely as follows.
For general $K$ and with as the greatest integer not exceeding
conclusions $(a)-(c)$ of Theorem 5.3 hold, and conclusion (d) is replacedby the paragraph following Theorem 4.4. For related results on comparison, interlacing etc., we refer to [7].
$P_{-}$$\theta_{T},$$\theta_{R}$$\beta$$\ell_{-}/\pi,$$\kappa$

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[22] A. Zettl, Sturm-Liouville Theory, Mathematical Surveys and Monographs 121,
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P. A. BINDING, DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY, UNIVERSITY DRIVE NW, CALGARY, ALBERTA, $T2N$ lN4,
CANADA-mail address: bindingQucalgary. ca$E$