Pointwise eigenvector estimates by landscape functions: Some variations on the Filoche–Mayboroda–van den Berg bound

Abstract

Landscape functions are a popular tool used to provide upper bounds for eigenvectors of Schrödinger operators on domains. We review some known results obtained in the last 10 years, unify several approaches used to achieve such bounds, and extend their scope to a large class of linear and nonlinear operators. We also use landscape functions to derive lower estimates on the principal eigenvalue—much in the spirit of earlier results by Donsker–Varadhan and Bañuelos–Carrol—as well as upper bounds on heat kernels. Our methods solely rely on order properties of operators: We devote special attention to the case where the relevant operators enjoy various forms of elliptic or parabolic maximum principle. Additionally, we illustrate our findings with several examples, including p‐Laplacians on domains and graphs as well as Schrödinger operators with magnetic and electric potential, also by means of elementary numerical experiments.