On rational and periodic solutions of stationary KdV equations (Q1288052)

The potential of a second-order ordinary differential operator \(L=d^2/dx^2+q(x)\) is said to be algebro-geometric when there exists an odd-order operator that commutes with \(L\). This is the same as requiring that the KdV orbit given by the isospectral evolutions \[ q_{t_n}=[(L^{n/2})_+,L] \] be finite-dimensional. This paper gives the following necessary and sufficient condition for \(q(x)\) to be algebro-geometric when \(q\) is doubly-periodic, simply-periodic with a mild technical assumption, or rational and vanishing at infinity: \(q\) is algebro-geometric if and only if every solution \(y\) of the equation \(Ly=zy\) is meromorphic for infinitely many values of (the complex parameter) \(z\). This work extends the paper: ``Picard potentials and Hill's equation on a torus'' [Acta Math. 176, No. 1, 73-107 (1996; Zbl 0927.37040)], by the author with \textit{F. Gesztesy}, where the theorem was proved in the elliptic case. Moreover, the facts that were known are reproved in a self-contained and elementary fashion, using recursive calculations for the invariants of the KdV hierarchy and complex analysis.