Pseudo Numerical Ranges and Spectral Enclosures

We introduce the new concepts of pseudo numerical range for operator functions and families of sesquilinear forms as well as the pseudo block numerical range for $$ operator matrix functions. While these notions are new even in the bounded case, we cover operator polynomials with unbounded coefficients, unbounded holomorphic form families of type (a) and associated operator families of type (B). Our main results include spectral inclusion properties of pseudo numerical ranges and pseudo block numerical ranges. For diagonally dominant and off-diagonally dominant operator matrices they allow us to prove spectral enclosures in terms of the pseudo numerical ranges of Schur complements that no longer require dominance order 0 and not even $$ . As an application, we establish a new type of spectral bounds for linearly damped wave equations with possibly unbounded and/or singular damping.