On eigenvalues of the Schr\"odinger operator with a complex-valued polynomial potential

Abstract

In this paper, we generalize a recent result of A. Eremenko and A. Gabrielov on irreducibility of the spectral discriminant for the Schr\"odinger equation with quartic potentials. We consider the eigenvalue problem with a complex-valued polynomial potential of arbitrary degree d and show that the spectral determinant of this problem is connected and irreducible. In other words, every eigenvalue can be reached from any other by analytic continuation. We also prove connectedness of the parameter spaces of the potentials that admit eigenfunctions satisfying k>2 boundary conditions, except for the case d is even and k=d/2. In the latter case, connected components of the parameter space are distinguished by the number of zeros of the eigenfunctions.