Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-differential-equations-2-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/1/a/i/solution

Take and use the inner product on the Hilbert space . The differential operator has domain
where is a Sobolev space. Twice applying integration by parts gives the Lagrange identity for a Sturm-Liouville operator
The Dirichlet boundary conditions make this expression zero for , and the formal adjoint is . To obtain the domain of the adjoint operator, initially impose the boundary conditions only on . The remaining expression is . Since and vary independently, it vanishes for all such exactly when . The adjoint domain is therefore the original domain: this is full self-adjointness, including the boundary conditions.
Consequently the eigenvalues are real, eigenfunctions for distinct eigenvalues are orthogonal, and regular Sturm-Liouville theory supplies a complete orthonormal eigenbasis. Here these objects can be exhibited explicitly:
Indeed , and the Fourier sine basis is complete in . There are no additional eigenvalues: for a nonzero eigenfunction , integration by parts gives
so and the endpoint values force . All these eigenvalues are simple. The eigenvectors are precisely the nonzero multiples of these eigenfunctions, regarded as vectors in the Hilbert space.

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