The Landis conjecture with sharp rate of decay

The so-called Landis conjecture states that if a solution of the equation ∆u + V(x)u = 0 in an exterior domain decays faster than e−κ|x|, for some κ > √sup |V|, then it must be identically equal to 0. This property can be viewed as a unique continuation at infinity (UCI) for solutions satisfying a suitable exponential decay. The Landis conjecture was disproved by Meshkov in the case of complex-valued functions, but it remained open in the real case. In the 2000s, several papers have addressed the issue of the UCI for linear elliptic operators with real coefficients. The results that have been obtained require some kind of sign condition, either on the solution or on the zero-order coefficient of the equation. The Landis conjecture is still open nowadays in its general form. In the present paper, we start with considering a general (real) elliptic operator in dimension 1. We derive the UCI property with a rate of decay κ which is sharp when the coefficients of the operator are constant. In particular, we prove the Landis conjecture in dimension 1, and we can actually reach the threshold value κ = √sup |V|. Next, we derive the UCI property—and then the Landis conjecture—for radial operators in arbitrary dimension. Finally, with a different approach, we prove the same result for positive supersolutions of general elliptic equations.