On Molchanov's criterion for compactness of the resolvent for a non self-adjoint Sturm-Liouville operator

Abstract

The Molchanov's condition is a necessary condition for the compactness of the resolvent for a wide class of ordinary differential operators of arbitrary order, but for the Sturm-Liouville operator it is not sufficient, even if the real part of the potential is non-negative. Molchanov's criterion remains valid in the formulation closest to the original one for potentials that take values in a narrower sector than the half-plane, separated from the negative half-axis. This work is devoted to these questions.