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Fixed detail on multiplicity of eigenvalues; improved formatting

Regarding the asymptotic behavior of the spectrum of the Laplacian (or, as the OP puts it, the behavior at infinity), the most basic result is Weyl's asymptotic formula (see Chavel's book, p.172): let $(M,g)$ be a compact manifold with $\dim M=n$ and $0=\lambda_0<\lambda_1\leq \lambda_2\leq\dots$ be the eigenvalues of the Laplacian, each distinct eigenvalue repeated according to its multiplicity. Denote by $N(\lambda)=\sum_{\lambda_j\leq\lambda} 1$ the number of eigenvalues (counted with multiplicity) that are $\leq\lambda$. Then

$$N(\lambda)\sim vol(M,g)\frac{vol(B^n)}{(2\pi)^n}\lambda^{n/2}, \quad \mbox{as} \quad\lambda\to+\infty,$$

where $vol(B^n)=\frac{\pi^{n/2}}{\Gamma(n/2+1)}$ is the volume of the unit ball of $\mathbb R^n$. In particular,

$$(\lambda_k)^{n/2}\sim\frac{(2\pi)^n}{vol(B^n)}\frac{k}{vol(M,g)}, \quad \mbox{as}\quad k\to+\infty.$$

Thus, the asymptotic behavior of the eigenvalues cannot be prescribed - it has to satisfy the above.


Also, as far as I understand, Colin de Verdière's result is stronger than stated. Namely, given any compact connected manifold M, with $\dim M\geq 3$, and any finite sequence $0\leq a_1\leq\dots\leq a_k$, there exists a Riemannian metric on $M$ such that the first eigenvalues in the spectrum of its Laplacian are $0\leq a_1\leq\dots\leq a_k$.