Characterisation of the factors of quasi-differential expressions

Abstract

SynopsisA necessary and sufficient condition for a general, scalar, quasi-differential expression of order n to be factorisable into a product of expressions of order n − k and k, for any 0 < k < n, is given. The factors are characterised completely in terms of elements of the null space of the expression and its adjoint. The results obtained extend existing results due to both Polya and Zettl from the case of classical linear differential expressions to quasi-differential expressions.