Spectral duality for a class of unbounded operators

TL;DR

This paper introduces a spectral duality for certain unbounded operators in Hilbert space, including graph Laplacians, and explores their approximation by finite models for easier computation.

Contribution

It establishes a spectral duality framework for unbounded operators and provides methods for approximating infinite models with finite, computationally manageable ones.

Findings

Spectral duality applies to a class of unbounded operators including graph Laplacians.

Finite models can approximate infinite operators with convergence guarantees.

Provides computational methods for spectral analysis of truncated operators.

Abstract

We establish a spectral duality for certain unbounded operators in Hilbert space. The class of operators includes discrete graph Laplacians arising from infinite weighted graphs. The problem in this context is to establish a practical approximation of infinite models with suitable sequences of finite models which in turn allow (relatively) easy computations. Let $X$ be an infinite set and let $\H$ be a Hilbert space of functions on $X$ with inner product $\ip{\cdot}{\cdot}=\ip{\cdot}{\cdot}_{\H}$. We will be assuming that the Dirac masses $\delta_x$, for $x\in X$, are contained in $\H$. And we then define an associated operator $\Delta$ in $\H$ given by $$(\Delta v)(x):=\ip{\delta_x}{v}_{\H}.$$ Similarly, for every finite subset $F\subset X$, we get an operator $\Delta_F$. If $F_1\subset F_2\subset...$ is an ascending sequence of finite subsets such that $\cup_{k\in\bn}F_k=X$, we are interested in the following two problems: (a) obtaining an approximation formula $$\lim_{k\to\infty}\Delta_{F_k}=\Delta;$$ and (b) establish a computational spectral analysis for the truncated operators $\Delta_F$ in (a).