(Modified) Fredholm determinants for operators with matrix-valued semi-separable integral kernels revisited (Q1434474)

Let \(I:=(a, b)\subset\mathbb{R}\), \(k\) be a matrix-valued semi-separable integral kernel, \(K\) the associated Hilbert--Schmidt operator in the appropriate Hilbert space, and \(\alpha\in \mathbb{C}\). If \(K\) is trace class, the Fredholm determinant of \(1-\alpha K\) can be reduced to a finite-dimensional determinant by decomposing \(K\) into a Volterra operator \(H\) plus a finite-rank operator \(QR\), observing \[ 1-\alpha K= (1-\alpha H)[1- \alpha(1-\alpha H)^{-1}QR]. \] \((1-\alpha H)^{-1}\) can be written as the identity plus another Volterra operator whose kernel is made up, among other things, of the solution of the system \[ U'(x,\alpha)= \alpha A(x) U(x,\alpha)\quad (x\in I),\tag{1} \] \[ U(a,\alpha)= 1,\tag{2} \] where the matrix \(A\) contains the constituents of \(k\). This approach can be found, e.g., in Chapter IX of the book by \textit{I. Gohberg}, \textit{S. Goldberg} and \textit{M. A. Kaashook} [``Classes of linear operators, Vol. 1'', (Birkhäuser, Basel) (1990; Zbl 0745.47002)]. The authors of the article under review notice that there are important cases where the normalisation (2) cannot be achieved and show that the basic formalism still remains valid when another explicitly given solution of (1) is considered. They illustrate the effectiveness of their modification with the Sturm-Liouville operator \(L:=-(d/dx)^2+V\). In this case, \(K\) contains the resolvent of the free operator as well as multiplication operators involving \(|V|^{1/2}\). Their first two examples concern scattering on the half-line or line, and they rederive in an elegant way the result that \(\text{det}(1- K)\) equals the Jost function belonging to \(L\). In their third example where \(V\) is periodic, they relate \(\text{det}(1- K)\) to the discriminant of \(L\). The final section of the paper is devoted to giving a new proof of a determinant formula for truncated Wiener--Hopf operators which is due to \textit{A. Böttcher} [Math. Nachr. 144, 59--64 (1989; Zbl 0691.45004)].