We provide some characterizations for SOC-monotone and SOC-convex functions by using differential analysis. From these characterizations, we particularly obtain that a continuously differentiable function defined in an open interval is SOC-monotone (SOC-convex) of order <i>n</i> 3 if and only if it is 2-matrix monotone (matrix convex), and furthermore, such a function is also SOC-monotone (SOC-convex) of order <i>n</i> 2 if it is 2-matrix monotone (matrix convex). In addition, we also prove that Conjecture 4.2 proposed in Chen (Optimization 55:363385, 2006) does not hold in general. Some examples are included to illustrate that these characterizations open convenient ways to verify the SOC-monotonicity and the SOC-convexity of a continuously differentiable function defined on an open interval, which are often involved in the solution methods of the convex second-order cone optimization.

We analyze a family of singular Schrdinger operators describing a Neumann waveguide with a periodic array of singular traps of a delta\prime type. We show that in the limit when perpendicular size of the guide tends to zero and the delta\prime interactions are appropriately scaled, the first spectral gap is determined exclusively by geometric properties of the traps.

We discuss operators of the type H=-\Delta+ V (x)-lpha\delta (x-\Sigma) with an attractive interaction, H=-\Delta+ V (x)-lpha\delta (x-\Sigma) , in H=-\Delta+ V (x)-lpha\delta (x-\Sigma) , where H=-\Delta+ V (x)-lpha\delta (x-\Sigma) is an infinite surface, asymptotically planar and smooth outside a compact, dividing the space into two regions, of which one is supposed to be convex, and H=-\Delta+ V (x)-lpha\delta (x-\Sigma) is a potential bias being a positive constant H=-\Delta+ V (x)-lpha\delta (x-\Sigma) in one of the regions and zero in the other. We find the essential spectrum and ask about the existence of the discrete one with a particular attention to the critical case, H=-\Delta+ V (x)-lpha\delta (x-\Sigma) . We show that H=-\Delta+ V (x)-lpha\delta (x-\Sigma) is then empty if the bias is supported in theexterior'region, while in the opposite case isolated eigenvalues may exist.