Quantitative observability for the Schrödinger equation with an anharmonic oscillator

Abstract

This paper studies the observability inequalities for the Schrödinger equation associated with an anharmonic oscillator $H=-\frac{\d^2}{\d x^2}+|x|$. We build up the observability inequality over an arbitrarily short time interval $(0,T)$, with an explicit expression for the observation constant $C_{obs}$ in terms of $T$, for some observable set that has a different geometric structure compared to those discussed in \cite{HWW}. We obtain the sufficient conditions and the necessary conditions for observable sets, respectively. We also present counterexamples to demonstrate that half-lines are not observable sets, highlighting a major difference in the geometric properties of observable sets compared to those of Schrödinger operators $H=-\frac{\d^2}{\d x^2}+|x|^{2m}$ with $m\ge 1$. Our approach is based on the following ingredients: First, the use of an Ingham-type spectral inequality constructed in this paper; second, the adaptation of a quantitative unique compactness argument, inspired by the work of Bourgain-Burq-Zworski \cite{Bour13}; third, the application of the Szegö's limit theorem from the theory of Toeplitz matrices, which provides a new mathematical tool for proving counterexamples of observability inequalities.