Oscillation of self-adjoint second-order vector difference equations to the parameter (Q1827242)

The paper is devoted to the oscillatory properties of the second-order difference equation \[ -\nabla(C_n\Delta x_n)+B_nx_n=\lambda\omega_nx_n\eqno(1) \] with respect to a parameter \(\lambda\in\mathbb{C}\), where \(\nabla x_n=x_n-x_{n-1}\), \(\Delta x_n=x_{n+1}-x_n\), \(C_n\), \(B_n\), \(\omega_n\) are \(d\times d\) Hermitian matrices, \(C_n\) is nonsingular, \(\omega_n>0\). Let \(x_n(\lambda)\) and \(X_n(\lambda)\) be the vector-valued and the matrix-valued solutions of the above equation satisfying the following initial value conditions, respectively, \(x_0=R_2^*\xi\), \(x_1=(C_0^{-1}R_1^*+R_2^*)\xi\) and \(X_0=R_2^*\), \(X_1=C_0^{-1}R_1^*+R_2^*\), where \(\xi\in\mathbb{C}^d\), \(R_1\) and \(R_2\) are \(d\times d\) matrices satisfying \[ \text{rank}(R_1,R_2)=d, \;\;R_1R_2^*=R_2R_1^*. \eqno(2) \] Let \(\Lambda_n(\lambda)=S_1X_n(\lambda)+S_2C_n\Delta X_n(\lambda)\), where \(S_1\) and \(S_2\) are \(d\times d\) matrices satisfying (2). According to the main results of the paper, all zeros of \(\det\Lambda_n(\lambda)\) are real and \(\left.{(d/d\lambda)\Lambda_n(\lambda)}\right| _{\lambda=\lambda_0}\neq0\) if \(\det\Lambda_n(\lambda_0)=0\) for \(n\geq 2\). Other theorems present sufficient conditions for the simplicity of poles of \(\Lambda_n^{-1}(\lambda)\), the monotonicity of matrix-valued solutions, and the oscillation of two consecutive polynomials for vector-valued solutions.