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⁺+A^-S^-+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 , 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.