Abstract

We estimate the lowest eigenvalue in the gap of the essential spectrum of a Dirac operator with mass in terms of a Lebesgue norm of the potential. Such a bound is the counterpart for Dirac operators of the Keller estimates for the Schrödinger operator, which are equivalent to some Gagliardo–Nirenberg–Sobolev interpolation inequalities. Domain, self-adjointness, optimality and critical values of the norms are addressed, while the optimal potential is given by a Dirac equation with a Kerr nonlinearity. A new critical bound appears, which is the smallest value of the norm of the potential for which eigenvalues may reach the bottom of the gap in the essential spectrum. The Keller estimate is then extended to a Lieb–Thirring inequality for the eigenvalues in the gap. Most of our result are established in the Birman–Schwinger reformulation.