Pólya-type inequalities on spheres and hemispheres

Given an eigenvalue λ of the Laplace–Beltrami operator defined on n-spheres or -hemispheres, with multiplicity m such that λ=λ k =⋯=λ k+m-1 , we characterize the lowest and highest orders in the set k,⋯,k+m-1 for which Pólya's conjecture holds and fails. In particular, we show that Pólya's conjecture holds for hemispheres in the Neumann case, but not in the Dirichlet case when n is greater than two. We further derive Pólya-type inequalities by adding a correction term providing sharp lower and upper bounds for all eigenvalues. This allows us to measure the deviation from the leading term in the Weyl asymptotics for eigenvalues on spheres and hemispheres. As a direct consequence, we obtain similar results for domains which tile hemispheres. We also obtain direct and reversed Li–Yau inequalities for 𝕊 2 and 𝕊 4 , respectively.