A uniqueness theorem for higher order anharmonic oscillators

Abstract

We study for $\alpha\in\R$, $k \in {\mathbb N} \setminus \{0\}$ the family of self-adjoint operators \[ -\frac{d^2}{dt^2}+\Bigl(\frac{t^{k+1}}{k+1}-\alpha\Bigr)^2 \] in $L^2(\R)$ and show that if $k$ is even then $\alpha=0$ gives the unique minimum of the lowest eigenvalue of this family of operators. Combined with earlier results this gives that for any $k \geq 1$, the lowest eigenvalue has a unique minimum as a function of $\alpha$.