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Let ${\lambda }_n$ be the transverse eigenvalues of a Sturm-Liouville problem for the two Robin boundary conditions. For a harmonic strip solution decaying in the longitudinal direction, projection of the prescribed end Neumann boundary condition onto every nonpositive eigenvalue must vanish. Positive modes give $q_n(x)=-g_n{e}^{-\sqrt{{\lambda }_n}x}/\sqrt{{\lambda }_n}$. Zero modes are affine and negative modes are oscillatory, so neither can contribute to a decaying solution. The condition also establishes uniqueness within the decay class.

The weighted operator $L=W^{-1}[-(P\xi \prime )\prime +Q\xi ]$, with real coefficients and $P,W>0$ in the interior, defines a Sturm-Liouville problem. Its realization as a self-adjoint differential operator requires a domain whose endpoint conditions annihilate the boundary form $[P(\eta {\prime }^{\ast }\xi -{\eta }^{\ast }\xi \prime )]$. Its Rayleigh quotient uses the weight $W$ in the denominator.