Brune sections in the non-stationary case (Q1348103)

The classical inverse scattering problem consists in finding all representations of a given Schur-class function \(s\) in the form \(s=T_{\Theta}(\sigma)=(\theta_{11}\sigma + \theta_{12})(\theta_{21}\sigma +\theta_{22})^{-1}\) where \(\sigma\) is also a Schur-class function, and \(\Theta=\left( \begin{smallmatrix} \theta_{11} & \theta_{12} \cr \theta_{21} & \theta_{22}\end{smallmatrix}\right)\) is a meromorphic function in \({\mathbf D}\) that is \(J\)-inner, i.e., \(\Theta(z)J\Theta(z)^*\leq J\) at all points of holomorphy in \({\mathbf D}\), and \(\Theta(z)J\Theta(z)^*= J\) a.e. on \({\mathbf T}\), with \(J=\left(\begin{smallmatrix} 1 & 0 \cr 0 & -1 \end{smallmatrix}\right)\). The elementary such \(\Theta\)'s are of the form \(\Theta(z)=\left(\begin{smallmatrix} 1 & 0 \cr 0 & 1\end{smallmatrix}\right)-(1-z)/[\varepsilon(1-za^*)(1-a)]\left(\begin{smallmatrix} 1 & -k \cr k^* & -1\end{smallmatrix}\right)\). For the Schur sections (called also Blaschke factors) one has \(a\in {\mathbf D}, k\in {\mathbf D}, \varepsilon=(1-|k|^2)/(1-|a|^2)\), while in the case of Brune sections, \(a\) and \(k\) are on \({\mathbf T}\) (with \(a\neq 1\)), and \(\varepsilon\) is a strictly positive number. The inverse scattering problem is closely related to the theory of linear time-invariant dissipative systems, and it has numerous generalizations and ramifications. In the time-varying setting, Schur-class functions are replaced by upper triangular doubly infinite contractive matrices. The analogue of the Blaschke factor is known [see, e.g., \textit{D. Alpay, P. Dewilde} and \textit{H. Dym}, Oper. Theory, Adv. Appl. 47, 61-135 (1990; Zbl 0727.47005)]. Here, the authors introduce the time-varying counterpart of Brune sections. However, on the way some unbounded operators appear, and to remedy this dificulty, they use the so-called Zadeh extension. The theory results in a factorization theorem that generalizes the factorization of \(J\)-inner functions to the time-varying setting in the case of finitely specified systems.