Spectral theory for systems of ordinary differential equations with distributional coefficients (Q2288033)

This article develops spectral theory for the first-order system \[ J u' + qu = w f \] on an interval \((a,b)\), where \(J\) is an invertible skew-Hermitian matrix and \(q\) and \(w\) are matrices whose entries are distributions of order zero (locally measures) such that \(q\) is Hermitian and \(w\) is non-negative. More precisely, the authors discuss solutions of such systems, introduce associated minimal and maximal relations in a suitable Hilbert space, determine self-adjoint restrictions of the maximal relation and establish a spectral transformation for them. A couple of special cases (regular endpoints and the case of \(2\times 2\) systems) are singled out separately and presented in more detail. The main text is followed by two appendices about distributions and linear relations.