Integrability of the Zakharov-Shabat systems by quadrature (Q6038756)

In this article, the author proves that (under some hypothesis) the two-dimensional Zakharov-Shabat system \[ \psi_x = \left( \begin{array}{ccccccccc} -i k & q(x) \\ r(x) &ik \end{array} \right)\psi, \quad \psi \in {\mathbb C}^2\text{ and }x \in\mathbb{R}, \] which involves via inverse scattering transform for many PDEs such as KdV and the one-dimensional cubic NLS, is integrable in the meaning of differential Galois theory, that is to say it is solved by quadrature, for any \(k \in\mathbb{C} \setminus \{0\}\), if and only if the potentials \(q\) and \(r\) are reflectionless, meaning that the reflection coefficients arising in the corresponding transfer matrix are null. The proof is achieved by combining properties of the inverse scattering transform with the differential Galois theory.