Ambarzumian-type theorems for Hermitian matrices with applications

Abstract

A foundational result in inverse spectral theory due to Ambarzumian (1929) states that the Neumann Laplacian on an interval is not isospectral to the Neumann Laplacian with an additional non-zero potential. In this note, our aim is to investigate Ambarzumian-type theorems for certain classes of Hermitian matrices, including well-known matrices such as the discrete Laplacian on finite graphs. In addition, using different methods, we establish an Ambarzumian-type theorem for matrices with vanishing diagonal, in particular, the adjacency matrix on finite graphs. In this way, we generalize existing results on Ambarzumian-type theorems to general finite discrete graphs.