On the symplectic phase space of KdV

Abstract

We prove that the Birkhoff map $\Om$ for KdV constructed on $H^{-1}_0(\T)$ can be interpolated between $H^{-1}_0(\T)$ and $L^2_0(\T)$. In particular, the symplectic phase space $H^{1/2}_0(\T)$ can be described in terms of Birkhoff coordinates. As an application, we characterize the regularity of a potential $q\in H^{-1}(\T)$ in terms of the decay of the gap lengths of the periodic spectrum of Hill's operator on the interval $[0,2]$.