Mathematical Theory of Scattering Resonances

Book excerpt: Scattering resonances generalize bound states/eigenvalues for systems in which energy can scatter to infinity. A typical resonance has a rate of oscillation (just as a bound state does) and a rate of decay. Although the notion is intrinsically dynamical, an elegant mathematical formulation comes from considering meromorphic continuations of Green's functions. The poles of these meromorphic continuations capture physical information by identifying the rate of oscillation with the real part of a pole and the rate of decay with its imaginary part. An example from mathematics is given by the zeros of the Riemann zeta function: they are, essentially, the resonances of the Laplacian on the modular surface. The Riemann hypothesis then states that the decay rates for the modular surface are all either or . An example from physics is given by quasi-normal modes of black holes which appear in long-time asymptotics of gravitational waves. This book concentrates mostly on the simplest case of scattering by compactly supported potentials but provides pointers to modern literature where more general cases are studied. It also presents a recent approach to the study of resonances on asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds. The last two chapters are devoted to semiclassical methods in the study of resonances.