No label defined (Q3972347)

[For the entire collection see Zbl 0703.00014.] The paper is concerned with the two-dimensional spectral problem. In 1+1 dimensions (one spatial dimension and one time dimension) the inverse problem is known to be essentially a classical Riemann-Hilbert problem. For 2+1 dimensions it lies outside the Riemann-Hilbert theory. The equations under consideration can be written in the form \[ U_ t(x,y,t,\partial/\partial y)-V_ x(x,y,t,\partial/\partial y)+[U(x,y,t,\partial/\partial y), V(x,y,t,\partial/\partial y)]=0.\leqno (1) \] Equation (1) is the compatibility condition for the spectral equations \[ \partial\psi/\partial x=U(x,y,t,\partial/\partial y)\psi,\quad\partial\psi/\partial t=V(x,y,t,\partial/\partial y)\psi. \] It is solved in a sequence of three stages, each of which involves solving a linear problem. The Jost functions \(\phi_ i(x,y,\xi)\) are the solutions of the spectral equation \[ \partial\psi/\partial x=\{A(\partial/\partial y)+B(x,y)\}\psi. \] When the homogeneous Fredholm equation has only the trivial solution the solution becomes \[ {\partial\over\partial\zeta}\phi_ i(x,y,\zeta)=\sum^ N_{j=1}\int^ \infty_{-\infty}\phi_ j(x,y,\zeta+ia)R_{ij}(a,\zeta)da. \] When the homogeneous Fredholm equation has non-trivial solutions the question is unanswered in general, but a solution is given for special cases.