Trace Formulas and Borg-type Theorems for Matrix-valued Jacobi and Dirac Finite Difference Operators

Borg-type uniqueness theorems for matrix-valued Jacobi operators H and supersymmetric Dirac difference operators D are proved. More precisely, assuming reflectionless matrix coefficients A,B in the self-adjoint Jacobi operator H = AS + AS + B (with S the right/left shift operators on the lattice Z) and the spectrum of H to be a compact interval [E−, E+], E− < E+, we prove that A and B are certain multiples of the identity matrix. An analogous result which, however, displays a certain novel nonuniqueness feature, is proved for supersymmetric self-adjoint Dirac difference operators D with spectrum given by [ −E 1/2 + ,−E 1/2 − ] ∪ [ E 1/2 − , E 1/2 + ] , 0 ≤ E− < E+. Our approach is based on trace formulas and matrix-valued (exponential) Herglotz representation theorems. As a by-product of our techniques we obtain the extension of Flaschka’s Borg-type result for periodic scalar Jacobi operators to the class of reflectionless matrix-valued Jacobi operators.