Inverse problems of spectral analysis for differential operators and their applications (Q1576015)

In this article, the inverse spectral problem of obtaining the coefficients of the higher-order Sturm-Liouville differential operator \[ Ly=y^{(n)}+\sum_{k=0}^{n-2} p_k(x)y^{(k)} \] and its boundary conditions from spectral data is resolved, both on a compact interval and on the half-line. The solution of the inverse problem is obtained from the solution to a Marchenko-type integral equation. Both selfadjoint and nonselfadjoint problems are treated. In the general case it is proved that the solution to a suitable Marchenko-type integral equation leads to a unique solution to the inverse spectral problem (sec. 2 for the half-line and sec. 3 for a finite interval). In the selfadjoint case, the Marchenko-type integral equation is shown to be uniquely solvable and hence a more detailed existence and uniqueness result is found for the inverse spectral problem. Special attention is paid to differential operators with simple spectrum (on the half-line) and with a so-called ``separate'' spectrum (on a finite interval). A major role is played by the so-called Weyl matrix. For \(n>2\) and on the half-line it is assumed that the coefficients are locally integrable and analytic (sec. 5). The results are partially extended to inverse spectral problems for differential operators with singularities on the half-line (sec. 6) and on a finite interval (sec. 7) and for differential operators perturbed by Volterra integral operators of convolution type (sec. 8) and nonconvolution type (sec. 9).