Inverse spectral problem for a generalized Sturm-Liouville equation with complex-valued coefficients

The present paper is the first to prove that one of the columns of the monodromy matrix and two of the three coefficients (piecewise analytic on the interval [0, 1]) of the equation (f(x)y′)′+(r(x)−λ ² q(x))y = 0 uniquely determine the third coefficient on this interval provided that the values of the functions f(x) and q(x) lie in the lower (or upper) open complex halfplane and on the positive part of the real axis. This unknown coefficient can be reconstructed by finding the unique zero minimum of a specially constructed functional depending on the solutions of the corresponding Cauchy problem and the given elements of the monodromy matrix.