
70 STURM-LIOUVILLE PROBLEMS
The problem stated in Equation (3.1) is more general than that presented previously
because the left- and right-hand boundaries are located at x = a and x — b (a < b),
respectively. Prescribed boundary values for the dependent variable u, as in this
example, are referred to as "Dirichlet" conditions.
For the slightly different IBVP given as
IBVP<
ut = OLU
XX
(PDE)
u(x,0)=f(x) (IC)
u
x
(a,t) = 0 (BCs)
(3.3)
the Sturm-Liouville problem
X"(x)
+ XX (x) = 0 X'(a) = 0 and X\b) = 0 (3.4)
results. Recall the BCs given in Problem (3.3) are called "Neumann."
If the BCs prescribed in a similar IBVP are "periodic" in that u(a, t) = u(b, t),
the following Sturm-Liouville problem results
X"{x)
+ XX(x) = 0 and X(a) = X(b) X'(a) = X
f
(b) (3.5)
3.2 REGULAR STURM-LIOUVILLE PROBLEMS
The three Sturm-Liouville problems presented in Section3.1 are specific instances
of a more general Sturm-Liouville problem given as
f [r(x)X'(x)]' + [q(x) 4- Xp(x)] X{x) =0 (a < x < b)
< a
1
X(a)+a
2
X'(a) = 0 (3.6),
{ hX(b) + b
2
X'{b) = 0
where the functions p, q, and r are independent of the parameter λ, constants a\ and
Ü2
are not both zero, and constants b\ and b
2
are not both zero.
As indicated in the solution of
the
Sturm-Liouville problem in Section 1.8, a non-
trivial solution X(x) to Problem (3.6) is called an eigenfunction of Problem (3.6),
and a λ value for which a nontrivial solution exists is an eigenvalue of Problem (3.6).
Additionally, if X(x) is an eigenfunction of the ODE, then so is CX(x), where C
is an arbitrary constant. For X(x) to be an eigenfunction for Problem (3.6), we will
require that both X and X' are continuous on the closed interval a < x < b. The
set of eigenvalues for Problem (3.6) is called the spectrum of the Sturm-Liouville
problem. If the spectrum of a Strum-Liouville problem consists of
discrete,
positive
real values λ
η
, it is customary to list them in increasing order λχ, X
2
,
A3,...
A given Sturm-Liouville problem is said to regular when both of the following
conditions are satisfied:
i. The functions
p,
q, r, and r' are continuous, real-valued functions on the closed
interval a < x < b