In this article we shall use two special classes of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (which originate in the work of de Branges [dB) and de Branges-Rovnyak [dBRl), respectively) to solve matrix versions of a number of classical interpolation problems. Enroute we shall reinterpret de Branges' characterization of the first of these spaces, when it is finite dimensional, in terms of matrix equations of the Liapunov and Stein type and shall subsequently draw some general conclusions on rational m x m matrix valued functions which are "J unitary" a.e. on either the circle or the line. We shall also make some connections with the notation of displacement rank which has been introduced and extensively studied by Kailath and a number of his colleagues as well as the one used by Heinig and Rost [HR). The first of the two classes of spaces alluded to above is distinguished by a reproducing kernel of the special form K (>.) = J - U(>')JU(w)* (Ll) w Pw(>') , in which J is a constant m x m signature matrix and U is an m x m J inner matrix valued function over ~+, where ~+ is equal to either the open unit disc ID or the open upper half plane (1)+ and Pw(>') is defined in the table below.

The present book is the first of the two volume Proceedings of the Mark Krein International Conference on Operator Theory and Applications. This conference, which was dedicated to the 90th Anniversary of the prominent mathematician Mark Krein, was held in Odessa, Ukraine from 18-22 August, 1997. The confer encefocused onthemain ideas, methods, results, andachievementsofM.G. Krein. This first volume is devoted to the theory of differential operators and related topics. It opens with a description of the conference, biographical material and a number of survey papers about the work of M.G. Krein. The main part of the book consists oforiginal research papers presenting the stateofthe art in the area ofdifferential operators. The second volume of these proceedings, entitled Operator Theory and related Topics, concerns the other aspects of the conference. The two volumes will be of interest to a wide-range of readership in pure and applied mathematics, physics and engineering sciences. Table of Contents Preface............................................................. v Table of Contents VII Picture of M.G. Krein Xl About the Mark Krein International Conference . Mark Grigorevich Krein (A short biography) 5 I. Gohberg The Seminar on Ship Hydrodynamics, Organized by M.G. Krein 9 v.G. Sizov Review Papers: The Works ofM.G. Krein on Eigenfunction Expansion for Selfadjoint Operators and their Applications and Development 21 Yu.M. Berezansky M.G. Krein and the Extension Theory of Symmetric Operators.