Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

The smallest eigenvalue of a symmetric matrix A can be expressed through Rayleigh's formula. Moreover, if the smallest eigenvalue is simple, it can be approximated by using the inverse iteration method or by studying the large time behavior of solutions of the ODE x'(t)=-Ax(t). We discuss surprising analogs of these facts for a nonlinear PDE eigenvalue problem involving the p-Laplacian.