Krein signatures for the Faddeev-Takhtajan eigenvalue problem (Q842494)

The authors consider the problem of locating and counting the discrete eigenvalues associated with the Faddeev-Takhtajan eigenvalue problem, for which the sine-Gordon equation is the isospectral flow. In particular they show that for potentials having either zero topological charge or topological charge \(\pm 1\), and satisfying certain monotonicity conditions, the point spectrum lies on the unit circle and is simple. Furthermore, they give an exact count of the number of eigenvalues. This result is an analog of that of Klaus and Shaw for the Zakharov-Shabat eigenvalue problem.