Some inverse scattering problems on star-shaped graphs (Q631871)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a compact star-shaped graph consisting of segments \((e_{j})_{j = 1}^{N}\) of lengths \(l_{j}\) joining at a central node and let \(\Gamma^{+}\) be the extended graph where a uniform semi-infinite branch \(e_{0}\) is added to \(\Gamma\) with a reverse orientation \((- \infty, 0].\) Consider the Schrödinger operator on \(\Gamma^{+}\) \[ \mathcal{L}_{\mathcal{N},\mathcal{D}}^{+} = \bigoplus_{j = 0}^{N} \biggl(- \frac{d^{2}}{d x^{2}} + q_{j} (x) \biggl) \;\;\;(q_{0} (x) \equiv 0) \] defined on the domain \(D (\mathcal{L}_{\mathcal{N},\mathcal{D}}^{+})\) being the closure of \(C_{\mathcal{N}}^{\infty} (\Gamma^{+})\) (resp., \(C_{\mathcal{D}}^{\infty} (\Gamma^{+})\)) in \(H^{2} (\Gamma^{+}).\) \(C_{\mathcal{N}}^{\infty} (\Gamma^{+})\) and \(C_{\mathcal{D}}^{\infty} (\Gamma^{+})\) denote the spaces of infinitely differentiable functions \(f = \bigoplus_{j = 0}^{N} f_{j}\) defined on \(\Gamma^{+}\) and satisfying the following conditions \[ f_{j} (0) = f (0) \quad (j = 1,\dots, N), \qquad \sum_{j = 1}^{N} f_{j}^{'} (0) - f_{0}^{'} (0) = H f_{0} (0), \] where \[ H = - \frac{1}{2} \;\frac{\sum_{j = 1}^{N} (Z_{c}^{j})^{'} (0)}{Z_{c} (0)}, \] \(Z_{c}^{j}\) is the characteristic impedance over the \(j\)-th branch and \(Z_{c} (0)\) is the common value of the impedances at the control node. Moreover, for \(C_{\mathcal{N}}^{\infty} (\Gamma^{+})\) and \(C_{\mathcal{D}}^{\infty} (\Gamma^{+})\), Neumann conditions \(f_{j}^{'} (l_{j}) = 0\) and, respectively, Dirichlet conditions \(f_{j} (l_{j}) = 0\) at all boundary vertices are assumed. Assuming that \(q = \bigoplus_{j = 0}^{N} q_{j} \in C (\Gamma)\) and \(q (0) = 0\) for \(j = 1,\dots,N\), there is proved the existence and uniqueness of the scattering problem. Moreover, for almost every \(k \in \mathbb{R}\), there exists a unique function \( \bigoplus_{j = 0}^{N} \;y_{\mathcal{N},\mathcal{D}}^{j} (x, k)\) and a unique constant \(R_{\mathcal{N},\mathcal{D}} (k)\) (the reflection coefficients) satisfying \[ -\frac{d_{2}}{d x_{2}} y_{\mathcal{N},\mathcal{D}}^{j} (x, k) + q_{j} (x) y_{\mathcal{N},\mathcal{D}}^{j} (x, k) = k^{2} y_{\mathcal{N},\mathcal{D}}^{j} (x, k) \quad\text{for } j = 0,\dots,N; \] \((y_{\mathcal{N},\mathcal{D}}^{j} (x, k))_{j = 0}^{N}\) satisfy the mentioned boundary conditions; \(y_{\mathcal{N},\mathcal{D}}^{0} (x, k) = e^{ikx} + R_{\mathcal{N}, \mathcal{D}} (k) e^{- ikx}.\) Next, several results concerning inverse scattering problems, are established for Schrödinger operators. In particular, for the case of Neumann boundary problems, the following holds: Let \(\Gamma\) be a star-shaped network composed of \(n_{j}\) branches of length \(l_{j} \;(j = 1,\dots,m)\) all joining at a central node such that the whole number of branches \(N\) is given by \(\sum_{j = 1}^{m} n_{j}.\) If \ \(q \in C^{0} (\Gamma)\) and \(q (0) = 0\), then the knowledge of the Neumann reflection coefficient \(R_{\mathcal{N}} (k)\) determines uniquely the parameters \(n_{j}\) and \(l_{j} \;(j = 1,\dots, n)\). It is mentioned that the case of Dirichlet reflection coefficients can be treated similarly. The potential identification problem is also studied. Under some suitable assumptions on the geometry of the graph, it is shown that the measurement of two reflection coefficients determines uniquely the potentials.