Reflectionless Sturm-Liouville equations (Q2381612)

The operators \[ H_0:=-\frac{d}{dx} p_0 \frac{d}{dx} +q_0, \] with domain \[ D(H_0):=\{f \in L^2(\mathbb R) \mid f, p_0f'\in AC,\;H_0f\in L^2(\mathbb R) \}, \] and \[ H:=-\frac{d}{dx} p \frac{d}{dx} +q, \] with domain \[ D(H):=\{f\in L^2(\mathbb R) \mid f, pf'\in AC,\;Hf\in L^2(\mathbb R)\}, \] are considered. Here \(p_0, q_0\) are 1-periodic, \(p_0>0\) a.e., \(\frac{1}{p_0}, q_0\in L^1_{\text{loc}}(\mathbb R)\). Also \(\frac{1}{p}-\frac{1}{p_0} =: f\geq 0\), \(q-q_0=:g\) with \(f,g\in L^1(\mathbb R)\) having compact support. The spectrum of \(H_0\) in \(L^2(\mathbb R)\) consists of a countable union of bands or closed intervals, the interiors of which are called stability intervals. It is assumed for convenience that the supports of \(f\) and \(g\) are contained in the interval \((0,D)\), \(D\geq 0\). Let \((c,d)\) denote a stability interval of \(H_0\). For \(\lambda=a+ib\) with \(b>0\) and \(a\in (c,d)\), there is a non-trivial solution \(\varphi\) of \(-(p_0\varphi')'+q_0\varphi=\lambda\varphi\) analytic in \(\lambda\) and \(L^2\) near \(+\infty\). Let \(u\) denote the solution of \(-(pu')'+qu=\lambda u\) having \(u(x, \lambda)=\varphi(x,\lambda)\) for \(x<0\). If \(u(x,\lambda)=k(\lambda)\varphi(x,\lambda)\) for all \(x\geq D\) and \(\lambda \in \{a+ib| c<a<d, b>0\}\), then \(H\) is said to be reflectionless with respect to \(H_0\). In this paper it is proved that if \(H\) is reflectionless relative to \(H_0\), then \(H\) and \(H_0\) are unitarily equivalent. If, in addition, \(f=0\) then \(g=0\). The paper also includes in its appendices a detailed study of the asymptotics of the m-functions for the above operators.