RETRACTED
This article has been retracted as it is essentially identical in content with the published article “Determination of Sturm-Liouville operator on a three-star graph from four spectra,” by I. Dehghani Tazehkand and A. Jodayree Akbarfam and published in Acta Universitatis Apulensis No. 32/2012, pp.147-172.

ISRN Applied Mathematics

Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 132842, 23 pages

doi:10.5402/2012/132842

Research Article

An Inverse Spectral Problem for the Sturm-Liouville Operator on a Three-Star Graph

I. Dehghani Tazehkand and A. Jodayree Akbarfam

Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, University of Tabriz, 29 Bahman Boulevard, Tabriz, Iran

Received 10 January 2012; Accepted 15 March 2012

Academic Editor: D. Georges

Copyright © 2012 I. Dehghani Tazehkand and A. Jodayree Akbarfam. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract.

We study an inverse spectral problem for the Sturm-Liouville operator on a three-star graph with the Dirichlet and Robin boundary conditions in the boundary vertices and matching conditions in the internal vertex. As spectral characteristics, we consider the spectrum of the main problem together with the spectra of two Dirichlet-Dirichlet problems and one Robin-Dirichlet problem on the edges of the graph and investigate their properties and asymptotic behavior. We prove that if these four spectra do not intersect, then the inverse problem of recovering the operator is uniquely solvable. We give an algorithm for the solution of the inverse problem with respect to this quadruple of spectra.

1. Introduction

This paper is devoted to the study of the inverse spectral problem for Sturm-Liouville operators on a three-star graph with the Dirichlet and Robin boundary conditions in the boundary vertices and matching conditions in the internal vertex. The considered inverse problem consists of recovering the Sturm-Liouville operator on a graph from the given spectral characteristics. Differential operators on graphs (networks, trees) often appear in mathematics, mechanics, physics, geophysics, physical chemistry, electronics, nanoscale technology and branches of natural sciences and engineering (see [1–7] and the bibliographies thereof). In recent years there has been considerable interest in the spectral theory of Sturm-Liouville operators on graphs (see [8–10]). The direct spectral and scattering problems on compact and noncompact graphs, respectively, were considered in many publications (see, e.g., [11–15]). The considered inverse spectral problem is not studied yet. However, inverse spectral problems of recovering differential operators on star-type graphs with the boundary conditions other than considered here were studied in [16, 17] and other papers. Hochstadt-Liberman type inverse problems on star-type graphs were investigated in [16, 18].

We consider a three-star graph with vertex set and edge set , where are the boundary vertices, is the internal vertex, and for . We assume that the length of every edge is equal to , . Every edge is viewed as an interval . Parametrizing by , the following choice of orientation is convenient for us: corresponds to the boundary vertices and corresponds to the internal vertex . A function on may be represented as a vector and the function is defined on the edge . Let be a function on which is called the potential and is a real-valued function defined on the edge . Let us consider the following Sturm-Liouville equations on :

where is the spectral parameter. The functions and are absolutely continuous and satisfy the following matching conditions in the internal vertex :

where is a real number. In electrical circuits, (1.2) expresses Kirchhof’s law; in an elastic string network, it expresses the balance of tension and so on. Let us denote by the boundary-value problem for (1.1) with the matching conditions (1.2) and the following boundary conditions at the boundary vertices :

where is a real number.

The problem of small transverse vibrations of a three-star graph consisting of three inhomogeneous smooth strings joined at the internal vertex with two pendent ends fixed and one pendent end which can move without friction in the directions orthogonal to their respective equilibrium positions can be reduced to this problem by the Liouville transformation. This problem occurs also in quantum mechanics when one considers a quantum particle subject to the Shrödinger equation moving in a quasi-one-dimensional graph domain.

In this paper, we study the inverse problem of recovering the potential   and the real numbers and from the given spectral characteristics. Similar inverse spectral problems on star-type graphs with three and arbitrary number of edges but only with the Dirichlet conditions at the boundary vertices were considered in [16, 17]. As spectral characteristics, we consider the set of eigenvalues of problem together with the sets of eigenvalues of the following two Dirichlet-Dirichlet problems and one Robin-Dirichlet problem on the edges of the graph :

through which we denote these problems by . We obtain conditions for four sequences of real numbers that enable one to reconstruct the potential   and the real numbers and so that one of the sequences describes the spectrum of the boundary-value problem and other three sequences coincide with the spectra of the problems , . We give an algorithm for the construction of the potential and the coefficients of the boundary and matching conditions corresponding to these four sequences.

Denote by , the following boundary-value problems:

The main idea of the solution of the inverse problem for the considered system is its reduction to three independent inverse problems of reconstruction of the functions and on the basis of two spectra, namely, the spectrum of the problem and the spectrum of the problem . Since the solutions of the later inverse problems are known (see [19, Section ], [20, Section 3.4]), this reduction gives an algorithm for the reconstruction of the potential and coefficients of the boundary-value problem .

Let us consider the operator-theoretical interpretation of our problem. Denote by A the operator acting in the Hilbert space with standard inner product , according to the formulas

where is a Sobolev space. By constructing the adjoint operator , it is easy to show that is self-adjoint. The operator has a discrete spectrum and its eigenvalues coincide with the squares of the eigenvalues of the boundary-value problem . Thus, for all eigenvalues of the boundary-value problem to be real and nonzero, it is necessary and sufficient that the operator be strictly positive (). Furthermore, integrating by parts, we obtain the following equality for any vector function ( denotes the transpose of a matrix):

Relation (1.7) yields the following simple sufficient condition for the strict positivity of the operator :

On the other hand, if , then setting in turn and in (1.7), we establish that the eigenvalues of the problems , are also real and nonzero. The strict positivity of the operator can be realized by shifting the spectral parameter , in (1.1). For this reason, we assume in what follows without loss of generality that . Thus, the eigenvalues of the boundary-value problems and are nonzero real numbers.

This paper has the following structure: in Section 2 the direct problem is considered. Aspects of the theory of entire and meromorphic functions are used as tools for a description of the set of eigenvalues of the boundary-value problem and the spectra of the auxiliary problems associated with this system. As a consequence we prove that the eigenvalues of the main problem and the spectra of the auxiliary problems interlace in some sense. In Section 3 we solve the inverse spectral problem for within the framework of the statement indicated above.

2. Direct Problem

In this section, we describe the properties of sequences of eigenvalues of the boundary-value problems and that are necessary for what follows.

Let us denote by the solutions of (1.1) on the edge which satisfy the initial conditions

For each fixed , the functions and are entire in . Since is a fundamental system of solutions of (1.1) on the edge , then the solutions of (1.1), which satisfy the conditions (1.3), are

where , are constants and

Substituting (2.2) into (1.2), we establish that the eigenvalues of the boundary-value problem are zeros of the entire function

or

For what follows, we need the definition presented below.

Definition 2.1 (see [21]). Let be a sequence of complex numbers of finite multiplicities which satisfy the following conditions: (1) the sequence is symmetric with respect to the imaginary axis and symmetrically located numbers possess the same multiplicities; (2) any strip contains not more than a finite number of . Then, the following way of enumeration is called proper:

(i));(ii);(iii)the multiplicities are taken into account.

If a sequence has even number of pure imaginary elements, we exclude the index zero from enumeration to make it proper.

Throughout Section 2, denote

We introduce the entire function

Let us denote by the set of zeros of and by the set of zeros of the function . Denote by , the sets of zeros of the functions , , respectively. It is clear from (2.7) that the set   is the union of the sets , that is, the spectra of the auxiliary problems . According to the remark presented in Section 1, all numbers and are real and nonzero. We enumerate the sets and in the proper way (, , ,   for and , ). Note that the sets of eigenvalues , behave asymptotically as follows (see [20, Section ]):

where for .

Let us denote by , the class (introduced in [22, page 149]) of entire functions of exponential type ≤ whose restrictions on the real line belong to .

Lemma 2.2. The functions and can be represented as follows:

where .

Proof. Using the formulas of [19, page 18], [20, page 9] and taking into account that

whenever by the Paley-Wiener theorem [23, page 103], we obtain

where , are entire functions of class . Substituting (2.12) into (2.5) and (2.7), we get (2.9) and (2.10).

Theorem 2.3. The set of zeros of can be represented as the union of three pairwise disjoint subsequences which, being enumerated in the following way: , and   for , behave asymptotically as follows:

where for .

Proof. In the same way as [16, Lemma 1.3], we can show that the set of zeros   can be arranged into three pairwise disjoint subsequences ,  enumerated in the following way: , , , and for , such that , and

where , as for . It is not difficult to see that

Substituting (2.15) into , then from (2.9) and taking into account that the function is bounded on the real axis by the Paley-Wiener theorem, we obtain

This yields . Thus, . Similarly, we can show that for . Substituting (2.15) into the equation , where is given by (2.9), by expanding the left-hand side of resulting equation in power series and taking into account (2.17) and (see [20, Lemma ]), we obtain

where . Solving this equation we get (2.13). In the same way, we get (2.14).

To compare necessary conditions on a sequence to be the spectrum of the boundary-value problem with the sufficient condition which will be obtained in Section 3, we need more precise asymptotics.

Theorem 2.4. Let for .  Then the subsequences of Theorem 2.3 behave asymptotically as follows:

where for .

Proof. If , twice integrating by parts the formulas of [20, page 9] and [19, page 18], we obtain

where are constants and are entire functions of class . Substituting (2.22) into (2.5), we obtain

where , are constants and . Substituting (2.13) into the equation , where is given by (2.23) and by expanding the left-hand side of resulting equation in power series, we get (2.20). Analogously, we obtain (2.21). Theorem 2.4 is proved.

Remark 2.5. Under the conditions of Theorem 2.4, the spectra   of the boundary-value problems   for behave asymptotically as follows (see [20, page 75]):

where for .

For investigation of direct and inverse spectral problems, methods of the theory of entire and meromorphic functions are widely used. For this reason, we give several notation and definitions for what follows.

If is an open set, we denote by the set of all functions which are analytic in and by the set of all functions meromorphic in .

Definition 2.6 (see [24]). Let and let .

(i)The pair is called a 1--pair, if and and have no common zeros.(ii)Let and . The pair is called an --pair, if , and there exist 1--pairs such that

and no representation of this kind is possible with less than many 1--pairs.

Definition 2.7 (see [24]). A function is said to be of Nevanlinna class if

(i);(ii) for .

Definition 2.8 (see [24]). The class of essentially positive Nenalinna functions is defined as the set of all functions which are analytic in with possible exception of finitely many poles. Moreover, the class is defined as the set of all functions such that for some we have and for .

It is easy to check that .

Definition 2.9 (see [25]). An entire function of exponential type is said to be a function of sine-type if it satisfies the following conditions:

(i)all the zeros of lie in a strip ;(ii)for some and all , the following inequalities hold:

(iii)the type of in the lower half-plane coincides with that in the upper half-plane.

Let us introduce the entire functions

Using (2.5) and (2.7), we obtain

and consequently

Lemma 2.10. (1) the zeros of the functions and are real;

(2) the functions and have no common zeros.

Proof. The zeros of , coincide with the squares of the eigenvalues of the boundary-value problems

respectively, and the zeros of coincide with the squares of the eigenvalues of the boundary-value problems , respectively. These problems are self-adjoint and it follows from [26, Part I, Theorem 3] that the squares of their eigenvalues are real. Assertion 1 is proved. To prove assertion 2, let be a common zero of and . Using the Lagrange identity(see [26, Part II, page 50]) for solutions and of (1.1), we obtain

For we get

where and . This implies that which is a contradiction. Therefore, and have no common zeros.

Lemma 2.11. The functions and are of the Nevanlinna class .

Proof. Let . Using the Lagrange identity for the solution of (1.1), we have

Since

then (2.35) yields

Thus,

and consequently

Also, according to Lemma 2.10 the zeros of and are real and hence . Therefore, . Now it follows from (2.31) and (2.39) that and

Consequently . Lemma 2.11 is proved.

Lemma 2.12. The functions and are of the class .

Proof. By virtue of the formulas (2.12) we get

Using these asymptotics we obtain from (2.27) and (2.28)

and consequently

It follows form Lemmas 2.10 and 2.11, and (2.43) that there exist real numbers such that

Therefore, for .

Now using (2.31) and (2.44) and Lemma 2.11, we conclude that

where . Thus, . Lemma 2.12 is proved.

Theorem 2.13. The sequences and satisfy the following conditions:

(1) ;(2) if and only if   for ;(3)the maximal multiplicity of is 3.

Proof. Denote . The functions and are entire in and hence in view of Lemma 2.12, for and . Also, by Lemma 2.10 the functions have no common zeros. Therefore, the pairs are 1--pairs and consequently, in view of (2.30), the pair is an --pair with some (see Definition 2.6). On the other hand by virtue of (2.29), the squares of the zeros of and coincide with the zeros of and , respectively. Now the assertions of Theorem 2.13 immediately follows from [24, Corollary 4.6].

3. Inverse Problem

In the present section, we study the problem of reconstruction of the potential and the real numbers , from the given spectral characteristics. Let us denote by the class of sets which satisfy the following conditions:

(i), are real-valued functions from ;(ii);(iii)the operator constructed via (1.6) is strictly positive.

Theorem 3.1. Let the following conditions be satisfied.

Three sequences , of real numbers are such that

for all and ; for ;one has

where are real constants, for and for .

A sequence of real numbers (, , for all ) can be represented as the union of three pairwise disjoint subsequences , and   for which behave asymptotically as follows:

where is a real constant and   for .

The sequences and interlace in the following strict sense:

Then there exists a unique set such that the sequence coincide with the spectrum of the boundary-value problem , where , and the sequences coincides with the spectra of the boundary-value problems , , respectively.

Proof. Denote by

It is possible to enumerate and in the proper way (, and , ). Let us construct the following entire functions:

Using [27, Lemma 2.1], we obtain

where , are constants and for . In the same way as [27, Lemma 2.1] we can prove that

where , , are constants and and .

Let us set

where the numbers can be determined by

It is clear that for and . To complete the proof we need the following lemma.

Lemma 3.2. One has

Proof. Substituting (3.1) into (3.8) and (3.9), we obtain

where for . Also, using (3.1), we obtain the asymptotic relation

where . If we substitute (3.14) and (3.15) into (3.10), then we conclude that . Analogously we can show that . We show that . Let us substitute (3.2) into (3.8) and (3.9). We obtain

where for . Furthermore, taking into account (3.2), we have

where . Using (3.16) and (3.17) in (3.11), the assertion of Lemma 3.2 for follows.

Now since the functions , and are sine-type functions (see Definition 2.9) and by virtue of (3.1), (3.2), and (3.5), for (and hence the zeros of and are simple), the Lagrange interpolation series

constructed on the basis of the sequences , define functions , , respectively (see [28, Theorem ]). Using these functions, we define the even entire functions

It follows directly from (3.18) and (3.19) that for and hence

Let us denote by the set of zeros of the functions , , respectively. These sets are symmetric with respect to the real axis and to the imaginary axis. Hence, we number the zeros in the proper way: , for all and the multiplicities are taken into account (we will prove that all are real and all are simple except for , if ). It follows from (3.20) that

where for .

Proposition 3.3. The following inequalities are valid:

Proof. In the same way as proof of [16, Proposition 2.3], we can show that

From these inequalities and (3.21), it follows that

Let be fixed. It follows from (3.26) that between consecutive ’s there is an odd number (with account of multiplicities) of ’s. Suppose that there are three or more of them between and . Then comparing (3.22) and (3.23) with (3.1) and (3.2), we conclude that there are no ’s between some and , where , a contradiction. Thus, . If , then . If , then . If , then is a pure imaginary number and hence . Proposition 3.3 is proved.

Let . It follows from (3.24) and the asymptotic relations (3.1) and (3.22) that the sequences and satisfy the conditions of [20, Theorem ]. Thus, there exists a unique real-valued function such that and are the spectra of the boundary-value problems and , respectively. An algorithm for the reconstruction of this potential is as follows (see [20, Section 3.4]): without loss of generality, let us assume that , otherwise we apply a shift. The function

is the so-called Jost function of the corresponding prolonged Sturm-Liouville problem on the semiaxis:

where

Then we construct the -function of the problem on the semi-axis:

and the function

Solving the Marchenko integral equation

we find the unique solution and

The two sequences and satisfy (due to (3.2), (3.23) and (3.24)) the conditions of [19, Theorem ]. Thus, there exists a unique real-valued function and a unique real number such that and are the spectra of the boundary-value problems and , respectively. Below we give the algorithm of recovering of as it is described in [19, Section 1.5]. Calculate the so-called weight numbers of the problem by

where . If , then and we set where . Construct the function

where

Then using the unique solution of the Gel’fand-Levitan integral equation

we find

To find , we compare (2.21) and (3.4) and set

where can be determined by

Now we prove that the spectrum of the problem which is generated by the obtained , and coincides with . Due to [20, Theorem ] and [19, Theorem ], the spectra of the problems which are generated by the obtained and coincide with , , respectively. The functions ) where is the solution of (1.1) with obtained and which satisfy the initial conditions (1.3) coincide with , since they have the same zeros and the same asymptotics. Also, since and ) have the same asymptotics and according to [20, Theorem ] and [19, Theorem ] have the same zeros, hence they coincide. Thus, the values of the function (defined by (2.5)) at coincide with

for all and all , that is, with the corresponding values of the function . This implies that the entire function

of exponential type can be represented as follows:

where is an entire function. Using (2.10) and (3.9) we have

where , are constants and . Substituting (2.23) and (3.44) into (3.42) and using (3.39), we obtain

where . Since the functions , , and are bounded on the real axis, hence relation (3.45) implies that and from (3.42), it follows that . Consequently, the sequence coincides with the spectrum of the boundary-value problem . The operator constructed by (1.6) using the obtained , and is strictly positive, because it is self-adjoint and its spectrum is positive. The uniqueness of the solution of the inverse problem follows from the fact that formulas (3.18) and (3.19) establishes one-to-one correspondence between and (see [28, Theorem ]). The proof of Theorem 3.1 is finished.

Remark 3.4. If condition 1(ii) of Theorem 3.1 fails, that is, the sets are not pairwise disjoint (consequently, the condition 3 fails too), either the uniqueness or the existence result of mentioned theorem can also fails, for the same reasons as in the case of three spectra (see [27, 29]). If the sequences and are not pairwise disjoint and satisfy the statements of Theorem 2.13, then the solution of the inverse problem exists but is not unique.

Acknowledgment

This research is done with financial support of Research Office of the University of Tabriz.

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